


One Piece x Reader | Unfamiliar

by Bamse



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2019-10-09 13:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 41,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17408132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bamse/pseuds/Bamse
Summary: Around the age of 13, every child receives a familiar. The familiar received is based on multiple factors, and ultimately decides the child's fate, for it gives the child whatever powers or skills it can. If, by chance, either it is celestial, a strong familiar, or the child is powerful using the familiar's power, the child has the option to attend a high end academy once old enough. These children become heroes or sidekicks. Most get average familiars, helpful with basic tasks and jobs, or occasionally more advanced skills such as engineering, design, and more. And well known in the world, there's the (L/N) family, known for it's particularly strong familiars. Until, a girl named (Y/N) changes that.Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but the plot and world are.





	1. 1

It's that time of year again; summer vacation rolls to an end, and you have to apply for school. This year, particularly mage school. You hope to attend to One Piece: Academy for Advanced Mages, though only a total of 100 students pass each year, and are chosen out of five different testing days with nearly thousands of entrees during each day. It's the top magic school, alongside WGMA. You wait in the auditorium with other new students for the main exam instructions. Written exams you already took and passed, so all you have was the actual testing to see how much everyone is capable of.

That’s the part that worries you.

You look around, eyes wandering from place to place. Everyone else seems to have such extravagant familiars. The beings that stand proudly (though they stay in their smaller form for now, so they look more cute than intimidating) by their masters range from mythical creatures to extinct ones to just ordinary yet extremely strong animals with some extra buff. Those are categorized as either Celestial or Advanced Familiars, and seeing everyone with them made you feel suddenly self conscious. Your own familiar feels the same.

"It's okay, Amyr," you say gently, petting the bird's head with your finger. He flew in circles around your head, chirping quietly. "Don't worry about it," you speak, understanding what he means via bonds between familiar and master.

Your bluejay is smaller than the average, but intelligent and swift, granting you enhanced qualities of both. He lands on your shoulder and chirps another small message, rustling it's blue and white feathers.

"I don't know, they said they'd be starting at 9:00, but it's already half past and no one's on stage.”

Minutes tick by, and a couple of people filed into the seats next to you, talking amongst each other. One has a noticeable long nose and black, fluffy looking hair and a floppy hat. Another wears a straw hat, and laughs and talks loudly. Two are bickering- one has blonde hair covering an eye and the other has short, soft looking green hair and an eye scarred shut. A much younger looking tan boy has a pink top hat with a white X on it, and the last is a girl with long, orange hair and seems to be the common sense of the group.

At last, a man you recognize as the principal walks onto the stage, a wide grin apparent on his face. His large, feathery pink coat outshines the rest of his features, leaving you to stare at the clothing for the most part. "Good morning, everyone," he starts, laughing a little. "Welcome to the physical exams! I'm Doflamingo Donquixote, the 'principal' of the academy. There will be 3 tests, all fairly simple. The first, a maze. Everyone starts in different places. You'll have as much time as you need, but only the first 50 who make it will continue on. Announcements will be made in intervals when people arrive, and when all 50 have made it. After that, everyone in the maze will find their way out on their own. If you don't, well, that'll be rather unfortunate," he chuckles sinisterly.

You feel shivers crawl up and down your spine, while your familiar burrows himself in your hair, also disturbed by the test.

"The second, you'll split yourselves up into 10 groups of 5, and you'll have your own territory and base in a battlefield arena. The goal is to enter another group's territory and destroy their base. If your base is destroyed, you're out. The remaining contenders still able to compete will move on into the final round.

"The final round is a 1v1 round. If the remaining able applicants comes to an odd number, the remaining will fight one of our staff. Of course, just because you win or lose in this round doesn't mean you will or won't be accepted." His smirk grows. "Good luck, use any methods you need, and don't die. Paperwork's a bitch."

Before anyone has any chance to react, the seats drops down, sending everyone down into slide like tubes, leaving you barely keeping in a scream. Your familiar left behind, he darts down and flies next to you. Finally, the seat comes to a sudden halt, shocking your body. With shaky legs, you stand up and wobble forwards.

Amyr looks at you, chirping in amusement at your shaken state. "Oh don't even," you hiss. For the first time, you take a good look around you. Stone walls standing tens of feet tall surround you.

'And the test begins now!' An announcement by Doflamingo comes through speakers.

"Can you fly up and show me the way?" you ask your companion.

He peeps yes and flies up. Following his aura, you run, turning corners sharply. You come across a couple people, some riding their familiars, others using theirs like you are, using their skills to sense where the exit is. Minutes that feel like hours in the monotonous scene bore you as you try to speed up to finish as soon as possible.

'The first contender has arrived! Roronoa Zoro has passed the first test!' comes Doflamingo's voice.

"Dammit, that marimo!" you hear a voice curse.

You find the owner of the voice---a familiar male with blonde hair shielding one eye. When he sees you, and immediately stops and for an awkward moment, he just stares at you. Unsure of what he was doing, you step around him slowly, then begin to run again, following your familiar's lead.

"Wait! Beautiful lady!" you hear him scream. Shivering at the title, you run faster, tapping into some of your speed quality.

 _Creep!_ you think, running faster as Amyr flies even faster. You hear him following you, and he's catching up quickly. _Is this what celestial and advanced familiars can give? That's insane,_ you think as he now runs beside you, eyes literal hearts.

"Oh sweet lady! Be mine!" he shouts, looking at you, not seeing the wall in front of him. You make the sharp turn and he crashes into the stone, cracking it and leaving him nearly implanted in the thick wall.

You shake it off. Another announcement comes through. 'The next competitors have come in! There are now a total of 5 finished!' It sounds more like a game show than an entrance exam.

"Alright! Let's speed up," you shout, tapping into more of your speed. With a small song of agreement, your familiar flies as fast as it can (which isn't particularly fast compared to others, but he's trying).

At around a half hour later, you start increasing your speed. More announcements already were made, and not many of the spots remain.

Amyr pushes himself more than he probably should, straining his wings. You'll have to praise him a lot later. And give him food.

At last, you make it to the end, crossing the line and panting heavily. 'And the 40th competitor has made it in! 10 spots left~' chimes Doflamingo.

You wipe sweat off your forehead before catching your fainting familiar. "Rest for now, bud. Ya did good," you congratulate.

You find the creepy blonde enter just after you, getting into a fight with a green haired boy. You recall both of them fighting similar as to now, though it was in the auditorium before. The orange haired girl from before punched them both in the head, effectively putting an end to their quarrel. She sees you staring, which she returns with a sweet smile before shoving the boys towards the group of people, yelling at them.

Just thinking of getting in her wrath gives you shivers. You turn your attention elsewhere, finding refreshments in a large cooler. You grab a plastic water bottle and take some sips before splashing Amyr with some water after placing him on the table. He wakes, ruffling off the water drops that line his feathers, more refreshed than before. You pour some water in the cap and slide it over to the small bird who drinks gratefully. After he finishes, he looks up and blinked, waiting for more.

"You're such a princess," you chuckle, allowing him the water he wanted.

A hand clasps your shoulder, causing you to jump a little. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Nami, good to meet you!" The orange haired girl stands by you, watching Amyr drink.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm (Y/N), pleasure." You shake her hand. "I guess I'm a little jumpy. Nerves, ya know. I didn't think I'd make it."

"Yeah, I get it. Is he in his smaller version?" she asks, pointing to Amyr. "He's so cute, like a good luck charm!"

You flush, and the jay scowls at Nami. Well, as much as a small, adorable bird can scowl. "No, that's how he usually is," you say, embarrassed.

"I mean- Oh I'm sorry! You made it through this with this little guy? Must be real powerful," she praises, petting the bird with her finger, which the bird receives cockily.

You laugh. "Don't worry about it. We get that a lot, but he's enough." You pour more water in the makeshift cup.

"Anyway, I came here originally to apologize for Zoro and Sanji," she says. "The two that were fighting. They tend to do that and disrupt the peace."

"I see. It's all good, it was almost entertaining to watch. Like a high school drama," you joke.

She laughs. "That's definitely it. Though it does get annoying when they're going at it all the time." Yelling is heard from behind you two, and you peek over your shoulders to see. "And they're at it again."

You two share a laugh. "Wait, so the green haired one is Zoro?" you guess, thinking about the announcement and the blonde's angry reaction. She nods. "He was the one who made it first?!" you gasp.

"Yeah, but he won't admit it but he just got lost and made it to the end without realizing it. He has the sense of direction of a two year old- I take it back, worse than. Probably thrives in confusing places and then fails stupid in obvious ones."

"That must be hard to deal with at times," you chuckle. "They sound like fun, though. Never boring."

"Let me introduce you," she offers.

You look at your small familiar for confirmation. He chirps happily and flutters up to your shoulder. "That would be a yes from us," you agree, capping the bottle and taking it with you as the orange haired girl leads you to the group.

One by one, she introduces you to the members of the group. "Then we have Robin and Franky, but they're already third years here. And Brook, but he's actually a supervisor," she adds.

"That's cool," you say, smiling at the group.

'And that's the end of this round! The 50 who made it through, congratulations! For those who were not so fortunate, good luck getting out of the maze!' Another message through the speakers comes through as the announcer himself enters the room.

"Congratulations, competitors. Now, ready for the next round? You'll be able to fight a whole lot, so look alive! It's time to see what you can do on a battlefield!”


	2. 1.1

“It’s time to see what you can do on a battlefield!”

"We still have to get into groups, right?" someone calls out.

He laughs. "Well, I suppose so, though it's not like you really get to choose." Confused murmurs echo throughout the room. "All you have to do is destroy at least one other team's fortress and keep yours protected! When yours is destroyed, you don't advance, but feel free to go wild even if you're out. Good luck, don't die, and I guess have fun!"

Rather than falling this time, the roof opens up and helicopters drop down rope ladders for every few students. You grab onto one and start climbing. Growing closer to the body of the vehicle, the wind whirls around you, leaving it difficult to keep your eyes open and focused on climbing.

With one last burst of energy, you make into the helicopter and take a seat. You catch your breath as more people file in until the small space is filled. Thankfully, you had two others you knew from the group were in the same vehicle. Unfortunately, they were two that tend to fight. A lot.

Uncertain, you debate with yourself whether or not to talk to the other one you didn't know. She has curly pink hair that reaches to her chest. She wears a black top and skirt lined with white designs and matching boots.

"Hello, I'm (Y/N), good to meet you," you finally introduce with a sweet smile. Your familiar chirps in agreement.

"How adorable! You're so cute, and so is your familiar," she squeals, and pink arises on your cheeks. "I'm Perona, wonderful to meet you. What's this little guy's name?" she asks as the small bird flies and perches on her shoulder, snuggling into her neck.

"His name is Amyr," you reply. "What's your familiar's name?" you asked, despite not seeing it.

With a tired roll of her eyes, she calls out her familiar. "Pik, come out." A pale, hovering raccoon like figure exits from her Seal. It looks bored, but too lazy to cure its boredom. You notice it's faint colouration. It looks like some type of red panda, if you'd have to guess. "He's a Ghostly red panda," she confirms.

You gasp in astonishment. "A Ghostly? Amazing," you gush, motioning for the familiar to come to you. It formed into a physical being and curled up in your lap, then dozing off.

"So is yours a Celestial? Advanced?"

You offer an embarrassed smile and laugh. "Ah, no, he's just a regular familiar."

"Hmp. Interesting. Come here, Amyr,” says Perona, holding out her finger for him to perch upon. She strokes his head, and he snuggles right up to her finger. “Cute.” 

“Yeah, yours is too!”

“He’s super lazy, though,” she pouts. “I guess it’s kinda cute, though.”

The fifth person climbs up into the helicopter, and you scoot over to make room for him. 

You hesitate before greeting him. “Hi, my name’s (Y/N)!”

He glances at you. “Law.” He offers a handshake. 

“Good to meet you,” you smile. A speaker in the roof hazes in as the helicopter begins moving. “I think we’re starting?” 

“Close the doors!” shouts the pilot. Law gets one of the sides, and Zoro the other.

A familiar chuckle sounds from the speaker. ‘You’ll now be taken to your base, good luck!’ The speaker scratches out.

“Wow, we really won’t have much of a break,” you sigh. “Sorry Amyr, no breaks bud.” He lets a low chirp. “Don’t sigh at me. C’mere.”

“I can handle defense,” says Law, speaking up.

“I’ll handle offense,” Sanji and Zoro say simultaneously. 

“Oi, no way you can handle it, mossy,” growls Sanji. 

“Like hell I can’t! You’re the weakling, dart-brow!”

Before the argument gets too heated, you step in. “Hey, Sanji, how about you help Law with defense and Zoro can help Perona and I with offense?” you suggest, trying to get the two apart.

“Ah, of course! For you, my lady, I shall take upon such a great burden!” he exaggerates.

“Er, right,” you agree blindly. “Thanks.”

Zoro clicks his tongue and shrugs. 

“You’re here!” calls the pilot. “There are parachutes below your seat.” 

You reach underneath, and sure enough, there’s a pack. An idea floats into your mind. “Hey, Mister?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you drop some of us off into an enemy’s base?”

He laughs. “Sure! I like ya, I think Mr. Donquixote will too! Just tell me when and where!”

“Is this fine?” you ask Perona and Zoro.

Perona nods, and Zoro hums in agreement. 

“I can float near the bottom, so I won’t need a parachute. It’d take longer anyway with one, and they’d see us,” says Perona. “I can give you guys the same properties,” she adds.

“Good idea,” you say.

Law and Sanji open one of the doors. “We’re gonna go now,” says the noirette. 

“Right, good luck you two!” you wave goodbye as they jump. “I hope they know how to use a parachute,” you murmur to yourself in sudden realisation.

“No time for worrying about them. Pilot, let’s go to an enemy base! Any of ‘em,” calls Zoro.

“Gotcha!” He starts towards another side. You look down at the battlefield you’ll be working with. There’s a large circle of raised land in the middle, which branches in 10 different pathways to smaller circles of land with castle-like structures on them. 

A minute later, he hovers over a spot. “I’ll drop ya off here!” he says. “It’s kinda close by yours, so if they need help you can get there pretty fast.”

“Thanks Mister!” you exclaim, preparing to jump out the side. “Who’s going first?”

“We should all go at the same time so everyone’s in range of my power,” Perona speaks up. 

“Right. Let’s go then,” says Zoro.

You tuck away your familiar and Perona has hers by her side. 

“3, 2, 1!” you exclaim, jumping after 1.

You fall through the air, your hair whipping in your face. You turn so you’re more in a diving shape. The ground quickly gets larger, and panic shoots through your nerves.

“Get ready!” yells Perona. 

You barely manage to turn your head. She’s holding out her hands, a small bubble forming from them. You’re sure you’re going to hit the ground just when it expands within an instant, and you slow to a drifting descent.

The three of you quickly catch your breath. “That was insane,” you breathe.

Zoro nods. 

“Sorry, I cut it a little close,” Perona says. “We’re gonna get to the ground soon, they haven’t noticed us. We’re at the back of it.”

“That’s good. That pilot was cool,” you say. “I’m glad he dropped us off.”

“Yeah. I’ll handle taking down the base, you two get the guards.”

“But it’s a giant building!” you gasp. “Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I’ll be fine. Will you?” He cocks an eyebrow.

You bite your lip. You’re not super strong, but you’re not weak either, and you can think fast enough to get you through fights. “I’ll be fine,” you say eventually.

“Right,” he narrows his eyes. “We’re here.”

You land on the ground safely. “Go around the castle,” Zoro says. “We don’t wanna alert them by making noise to make our own entrance.”

You and Perona share a look, wondering why he’d consider making his own entrance in the first place.

In the front of the castle on either side are two guards, both with strong looking familiars: one a panther and the other a large snake. 

You motion to the pink haired girl that you’ll get the one with the snake. She nods.

Since he’s on the other side, you summon Amyr and run as fast as you can, catching the attention of both. They have a quick moment of shock, an opportunity too good to pass up. 

Perona sneaks up behind the panther one, and Pik attacked the panther, gathering illusions to trick him.

While your opponent’s focus remained on his ally, you attacked quickly. You kicked his stomach, and he staggered a few steps. Amyr fights the snake, swooping in and out with speed and puncturing it with his beak and clawing at it with his talons.

The boy quickly recovered and sent a flurry of punches you were able to keep up with easily. Careful, analytical eyes inspected the situation each second, and at last, you find an opening. You swipe his legs from under him, and quickly regain your footing to send another kick to his groin.

He lets a groan of pain out, his hands over his crotch. 

You don’t want to hurt him too much, so you swat part of his neck to knock him out. His familiar admits defeat after seeing his master taken down, backing away from Amyr.

Glancing to the other side, you found Perona finished with her opponent. She gives you a smile and thumbs up. You return the gesture.

“Done yet?” Zoro yells.

“Yeah!” You shout back.

“Good. Now get to the edge and duck.”

You and her shrug and do so. The ground begins to shake, and the castle is split cleanly in several pieces, before each being crushed to bits by a giant tiger with glowing red eyes.

“Oh my god,” you whisper, peeking up. “That was so cool.”

Zoro casually walks over the rubble, the giant tiger reverting into a normal tiger’s size, walking by him. “Not bad, Tora,” Zoro compliments, patting the tiger on the head.

“That was you two?” you exclaim, bolting up and towards him. Zoro nods and shrugs. 

“Yeah. We could’ve taken more though.”

“That’s so awesome!” you beam, looking up at the boy.

“Thanks.” He smirks. 

Perona heads over to you two. “I guess.” She eyes the tiger, who chomps his lips. “Creepy red glowing eyes and slobber are not cute!”

“We should go help protect our base,” you pipe up. “We finished, but we can’t let our base be destroyed.” 

Zoro nods. “Let’s go.” 

Perona takes the lead, floating just above the ground. 

Though you’re usually fast, even tapping into a lot of Amyr’s power barely lets you keep up with the two. 

“You okay? You can ride on Tora if you need.”

“Tora? Really? That’s what you named him?” you half giggle, panting.

“Hey! I got mine when I was like 8, I was young---Seriously though. You and him look like you need a break. Just ride on him, don’t want you burning out.”

“Are you sure?” you gasp.

“Yeah. Tora,” he beckons.

Tora nudged you onto his back, and he easily carried you. You tuck away Amyr and rest a little. “Thanks, Zoro. I owe ya one.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Hey, Perona! Are we sure we’re going in the right way?”

“Yep! One of my ghost’s checked.”

“The ghosts are sentient?” you murmur. “That’s cool.”

“You think everything’s cool,” Zoro snorts.

“Cause everything here is just so much cooler than what I’m used to,” you defend.

“What are you used to?”

“Rude people and myself,” you mutter. 

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing. Look, we’re here,” you point out, spotting Law and Sanji easily taking out four enemies.

Zoro frowns but lets it slide.

“Thanks, Tora.” You slide off his back and scratch his head. He purrs lowly in response.

“You’re here. You guys finished?” Law asks.

You nod. “Yeah, Zoro got someone else’s base. I see you guys are holding up well.”

He nods. “They’re not bad, though. They’re pretty strong. We’re just stronger.”

“That sounded cool,” you whisper in awe. Law hears it and chuckles.

“(Y/N)-chwan! I’ve kept the castle standing this whole time! Aren’t you proud of me?”

You nod and awkwardly pat his shoulder. “Yeah, good job.”

‘Time’s up!’ announces Doflamingo. ‘Proceed to the next area to rest before one on one fights. Those who didn’t pass, there’ll be helicopters to take you away. To those who did, good luck!’ 

Trap doors all along the ground open up, leading down into the plateau. You head down the stairs and into a large room, where others are also arriving. You spot a few familiar faces, who you remember as Nami, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper. 

Others you recognise, but don’t know. There’s one with noticeable bright red hair, accompanied by the same three: one with wavy blue hair and stitches and thorn tattoos, one with long, messy blond hair that wears a blue and white striped mask, and a third that wears all black and a hood with ears.

‘Rest now. You’ll need it,’ comes another announcement. ‘You have two hours, use it wisely and rest, unless you plan on dying!’ He laughs before the audio is cut off with a static sound, leaving the room filled with anticipation and anxiety.


	3. 1.2

You take a breath, summoning Amyr. “Hey bud, we have break time. There’s some food over there, let’s get some and rest.” He agrees, and he flies above your shoulder towards the table with food and refreshments. 

You grab a small plate and sit down at a table nearby and watch those around you and count how many made it. Including yourself, there’re 20, so 4 teams made it. You wonder how 100 people are chosen over five days, considering the tests, but figure each day has different tests so no one can cheat, so depending on the day you’re tested on, you have different rates of passing. 

_But didn’t the principal also say just cause you lose this round doesn’t mean you don’t pass right? So it’s a matter of performance over results?_

Lost in thoughts, chirps of warning from Amyr snap you from your daze. “Yeah bud?” He chirps in distress. “Oh.” You look to the side to see two fighting. Law and the redhead you saw before.

They don’t seem to be going full out, but they’re definitely wrecking quite a bit around them and giving each other small wounds. People were watching them from the edges of the room, making sure not to get in their way. “Should someone stop them?” you wonder. Amyr chirps in distress. “Yeah, they do seem to be getting more intense… I’m gonna do something.” He sings in denial. “Sorry, but I’m gonna anyway.”

You stand and jog over. “Stop!” you yell. They don’t stop.

“(Y/N)-ya, stay outta this. I’m gonna kill this idiot.”

“Like hell! Can’t kill me if I kill you first, shitty raccoon!”

“But neither of you are using your full strength. Neither of you have any intention to kill,” you analyze the situation quickly. “And I’m sure you’ll eventually have a time to fight at a later time, but right now both of you should rest,” you point out. “So just take a break for now. Besides, you’ll probably have to pay for the stuff you’ve broke.”

Law cocks an eyebrow before striking the redhead just hard enough to get him away. “Fine. I’ll stop if this brute does.”

“No way, bi---”

“Sorry for the trouble, he’ll pull back,” says the masked blond for him, pulling the other away.

“It’s no problem, it’s just a bad time, really.”

Law eyes you. “You’re an odd girl.”

You shrug. “I guess, but someone could’ve really gotten hurt. That would’ve been bad.”

“Right…” 

Amyr flies over, chirping furiously. “Jeez, what are you, my mom? I’m fine, see? Oh, don’t give me that, I don’t need your sass, little princess. Right, I’m sure. I’m not a pacifist, I just didn’t---what do you mean I’m like Gandhi? How does that even? Ya know what, young man, corner. Timeout. Ten minutes. Now.”

Law chuckles. “Definitely an odd girl.”

You turn to him. “And _you_ could’ve gotten hurt. What were you thinking? What would have happened if you broke a leg or something and couldn’t fight?”

He cocks an eyebrow. “That wouldn’t have happened, for one. And secondly, maybe you should’ve applied for World Gov. Academy. This’ll happen all the time if you get in.”

“I’ll be fine,” you scoff. 

“(Y/N)! Are you alright? You could’ve gotten hurt, interrupting their fight and all,” says Nami, jogging over.

“Oh, yeah I’m fine, thanks.”

“Er, what’s Amyr doing?” asks Perona, floating over, pointing to the bird in the corner.

“He’s in timeout for sassing me,” you reply simply.

Nami laughs. “Wow, strict.”

You shrug. “I guess.

Time trickles away quickly as you converse with your group of friends you found. You’re laughing at one of Usopp’s insane stories and Luffy’s antics when Doflamingo slams open a door. 

He laughs and smirks widely. “Are you all ready?”

No one answers.

“No enthusiasm. Oh well. Here are the brackets.” A worker posts up a large paper on the wall. “If you lose the first time, you have another chance to win. Winning secures your passing, but if you lose, you may or may not pass. It’ll be one fight at a time, so if you’re not fighting, feel free to watch on the television!”

Said television switches on, showing a tournament ring. 

“The first two fighting are Roronoa Zoro and Blue Gilly!” Both follow Doflamingo out, and in a minute you see them arrive on the screen.

Zoro now has two swords, and they both take fighting stances. As much as you want to watch them fight, you first check the brackets. You’re fighting someone named Heat in the fourth round, and if you lose, you’ll fight either Perona or someone named Rebecca.

After looking over the brackets a little more, you head back to the television to watch the fight, but by the time you get back, the fight’s already finished and they’re already heading back. Zoro returns, and the Blue Gilly guy is taken to an infirmary. 

Zoro returns with Doflamingo, who calls the next two fighters: Nami and Carrot. The two girls follow him back.

“Congratulations!” you cheer for the green-haired boy.

“Thanks.”

The next fights you get to watch: Nami vs Carrot, both using some type of electricity to fight. You don’t quite get it at first, but Chopper explains Nami has a mythical familiar known as a Lightning Bird, and the girl Carrot has an Elemental Wolverine, using the element of lightning. 

You watch the fight in awe, and Nami wins after a few minutes. Carrot isn’t hurt too badly, thankfully, since the others seem to know her. You applaud Nami on her win. The next fight is between Perona and a girl named Rebecca, who has pink hair a little lighter than Perona’s tied back in a ponytail. 

Perona wins easily, and Rebecca takes her defeat sulkily. 

“(Y/N) and Heat!” calls Doflamingo.

You get up and walk towards him, whistling for Amyr to come, and after seeing your opponent, anxiety suddenly fills you. He’s one of the guys who hangs around the red haired guy, the one with blue hair and stitches and tattoos all over. He looks like one of those street kids who beats people up for fun.

The hallway is long, and you’re brought to a room with various weapons.

“Choose any you like, if you wish,” Doflamingo offers.

Both of you decline, and he shrugs and heads towards the arena. You walk to two different ends, and after a few seconds, Doflamingo calls the start. 

Heat hasn’t summoned his familiar yet, and you run towards him, Amyr flying close by. 

“Kime,” he says, requesting his familiar. An animal with the two heads, one of a lion and the other of tiger, legs of a cheetah, talons, and a snake’s tail leaps out and the lion head roars. 

You panic, but don’t stop running. The familiar goes to attack you, but you jump aside swiftly before running towards heat as fast as you can, tapping into Amyr’s powers. Heat opens his mouth, and fire shoots out from it. You leap to the left, then with one last bound, you go for him. 

The familiar attacks you first, knocking you to the ground. It goes to scratch you with its talons, but you’re able to first kick its stomach. You’re able to get it off, and you run away, staying close to the edge of the ring. It quickly rebounds and follows you while Heat stays put.

You can’t outrun it, but you confuse it a few times, and soon enough, the chimera is unable to run fast enough to catch you for a while. Taking this chance to attack its master, you go for Heat at top speed.

He opens his mouth again, breathing fire, but you’re able to roll and get close enough to him to kick his legs out. His eyes widen slightly, and you knee him in the face. You get in a few quick punches before he grabs your neck and stands, bringing you with him.

As you squirm and lose more oxygen, you aim and bend your body to kick him just in the right place on his arm, making him lose his grip immediately. You waste no time and attack him quickly, making him focus on blocking your punches. Inch by inch, you make him back up, and when you’re near the edge, you knee him in the groin. While he’s distracted with his pain, you push him off the edge.

You look over at Doflamingo for confirmation, and he nods. 

“Miss (Y/N) is the winner!” he announces with a satisfied smirk.

Adrenaline fading away, you pant and rub your neck in pain. The chimera bounds towards his master, who gets up after a few seconds. 

Amyr gives a praising song, and you pet him on the head with your finger. You walk towards the edge and look down. Eight or nine feet down Heat stands, rolling his shoulders, holding one. “Are you alright? Do you need help?” you ask, voice airy, still trying to regain steady breaths.

“I’m fine. You seem more hurt than me,” he says plainly.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Your neck is already bruising,” he comments.

“Huh?” Your hands shoot towards your neck, and you push a little. Pain jolts through your nerves, and you wince. “I’m fine, really. Here.” You bend down a little and offer a hand.

Heat raises an eyebrow and accepts, allowing you to help pull him up.

“You’re oddly nice.”

“Really?” You look up at the much taller boy. “I’ll take that as a compliment. By the way, your familiar is really awesome! What’s its name again?” you ask, starting conversation as you head back behind Doflamingo towards the other room.

“His name’s Kime.” 

“Kime? Like Chi-me-ra, but just Chi-me?”

He rubs his neck. “Yeah, kinda. I wasn’t the most creative 12 year old.”

“Huh. You’re actually really approachable, before you seemed really scary.” You pause for a moment. “Oh my god I didn’t mean to say it like that, I swear I’m so sorry if I offended you!”

He snorts. “It’s fine.”

“Sorry… Hey by the way, is the whole breathing fire thing part of the chimera thing?”

“Yeah. I can also do this.” He flexes his fingers, and they slowly turn to talons.

“Oh my god that’s so cool… Were you going easy on me?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he admits sheepishly. “I kinda want to see what you’d do. You stood up to Kid and Trafalgar fighting. No one stands up to those two. You seem interesting.”

“Trafalgar… Law, right? Yeah, but only ‘cause I didn’t want anyone getting hurt, and they were going to hurt each other!”

He lifts an eyebrow. “You’re too nice…” he trails. “Ah, we’re here.”

“(Y/N)! You won, congrats!” cheers Nami. “Oh god, your neck!”

“I think that’s my queue to leave,” he mutters, nudging you towards the girl as he heads off towards his group.

“Right, see ya. Hey Nami, thanks. I’m fine, really. It’ll heal.”

“Nice fight!” Luffy laughs. “You were cool!”

“I was cool?” you gleam.

“Yeah, super cool!”

“Thank you!” you gasp. 

“Alright, the next fighters are…”

The fights continue on, and an hour later, Doflamingo has the results, and another worker posts the list on the wall. You already know you’ve won, but you look anyway.

The only ones who didn’t pass are named Blue Gilly, Rebecca, Ideo, and Jean Ango, which are posted to the right of it labelled ‘Failures,’ which you think is a little harsh.

“I’m so glad I made it,” sighs Chopper. “I can’t believe I had to fight two staff members! No way would that have been fair!”

“Yeah, but you did well against them. No wonder you made it,” you compliment.

“Pfft that doesn’t make me happy to hear at all! I don’t care at all!” he claims, holding his now red cheeks and looking down to avoid you seeing his wide grin.

“Hey, we should exchange numbers,” you say. “Do you all have phones.”

A small chorus of ‘yeah’s ripple through the group. 

“We just need you two’s, though,” says Usopp, referring to you and Perona.

“Right,” you respond. “Does someone have their phone on them or a pen?” No one does. “Hm… Amyr has good memory, he can remember Perona’s number and someone else’s, then they can text us the rest of the numbers?” 

“That’ll work,” agrees Sanji. “You’re just as smart as you are beautiful!”

“Er, thanks…”

Perona and Sanji give you their numbers, and Amyr takes note of them. You part ways with them and head home on a public bus, content with your day. You got in to the academy, made new friends, and are moving out soon to the school’s dorms.

Excitement erupts in your chest, and you can’t stop smiling in anticipation.


	4. 2

“Look, I’m not saying you shouldn’t go and talk to him, but you really shouldn’t go and talk to him,” Usopp says, looking around nervously. “Let’s just go sit down now,” he says, shaking his head towards the seats to the left of him.

“I mean, we don’t need to sit. We’re fine standing here, we can see fine. And I get that you don’t think I should talk to him, but why?” you ask. “Do you know him? Is he bad?”

Usopp shivers. “I heard from one of the staff that he and his buddies have a criminal record and have been to jail. Four times. Four times, (Y/N)! And we’re only 15 or 16!”

“Oh, it’ll be fine. I’m sure that’s just rumour,” you shake it off.

“I’m with Usopp, the staff do have records of that stuff,” Chopper says. 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve talked to him before, he’s nice!”

 

“He’s scary!” Usopp practically shrieks.

“Then wait here,” you shrug, walking away from the two boys. Trying to save you, they pull you back quickly. You let out a squeak of surprise. “What’s that for?”

“Oi, Heat, isn’t that the chick you let win?” comes a gruff voice.

Usopp turns you around quickly. “We’re going now!” he whispers, him and Chopper pulling you along. “Dangit, where did everyone else wander off too?”

“Yeah.” Heat’s voice, then a pause. “(Y/N)!”

“Great! We’ve been noticed, we’re doomed!” groans Usopp.

“No! Great Usopp, please do something!” whines Chopper.

You shake off the two boys. “Yeah, that’s me,” you respond with a grin. The boys hide behind you, shaking. “Sorry about them, you guys are just really scary and probably have a criminal record!”

Heat raises an eyebrow. 

“Wait, saying that out loud really does make you guys seem scary…” you trail, furrowing your eyebrows.

A scoff from the redhead. “We are scary. If we wanted, we could rip you to shreds.” Queue a squak of terror from Usopp and Chopper.

“But you don’t want to, so we’re fine, right? Great.” He narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to speak, but closes it. “I don’t think we’ve really met. Hi! My name’s (Y/N). This is Usopp,” you motion with your left hand, “And Chopper,” you gesture with your right. 

“(Y/N)!” squeals Chopper.

“Hm? It’s fine! Don’t worry!” You pat the younger boy on the head. “If push comes to shove, we can run!”

“Like that’ll work!” they exclaim.

Heat sighs. “(Y/N), this is Kid,” he points to the redhead, “Killer,” to the blond, “And Wire,” to the gothic punk one.

“Woah, cool names! I wish I had a cool name…”

“You have a perfectly fine name,” Heat says.

Kid gives a horrified expression. “Are you being… nice?”

“Aw, it’s alright! Heat’s just _warming_ up to me!” An awkward pause. “Sorry, not sorry,” you smile.

“(Y/N)! Usopp! Chopper! There you guys are!” laughs Luffy, tackling the three of you.

You quickly slip out of the pile. “Yeah, you guys left us,” you say. “Where’d you guys even go?”

Perona drifts over. “We lost Zoro and had to go look for him, but then we realised you guys weren’t with us,” she explains.

“Oh. Sorry, that’s my fault,” you apologise.

“Guys, c’mon! Orientation is starting soon!” calls Nami, waving to where she has saved seats.

“So, I didn’t think you’d be into the creepy type,” sighs Perona, moping to the seats.

“Hm? Oh, it’s not like that. He’s a friend!” you say genuinely.

“Ah, I see. That’s good then!”

“Why?”

“I’m just saying. I mean, he wouldn’t be that bad if he lowered the creep factor and upped the cute factor. Anyway, you need someone cute!”

You shrug, sitting down. “I guess I don’t really care. I’ve never been too big on that type of stuff. Oh, look. I think the orientation is starting.” 

The lights dim, and a man you’ve never seen before walks on stage. He looks old and has white hair. “Hello, students. I’m Silvers Rayleigh, speaking on Mr. Doflamingo’s behalf. Unfortunately, he had some business to attend. Allow me to welcome you to the school…”

The speech is rather boring, just the normal stuff. No drinking, drugs, killing or severely injuring others. The classic rules. Halfway through, you drone his voice out and start tapping away at your phone to pass time.

“Alright, now get in your assigned groups and find your leader!”

Your head jerks up. “Wait what happened?”

Perona huffs. “Getting into groups and finding our leader.”

“Yeah I heard that… how do we know what group and leader we have?”

“Wow. You’d better be glad you have such a good friend like me,” Perona sighs dramatically. “You’re in the same group with that Heat guy in group 7. Your leader’s name is Sabo.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks… where do I go?”

“Just follow the creep,” she waves as she floats off. “See you, let’s meet up later!”

“Group 7, leader Sabo. Okay, I got that. I’m good. I’m fine.”

“Ah, (Y/N)! Sabo’s my brother!” Luffy says. “You’ll like him, he’s a second year!”

“Really? Where is he right now?” you ask.

Luffy scans the room. “Over there!” he points. “The one with the top hat and blond hair. Sabo!” he waves and shouts. His head perks towards Luffy, and he gives a smile and wave.

“Thanks. I’ll see ya later?”

“Yeah. Bye!”

You start towards the blond, weaving through the flow of people. As you get closer, you notice his formal wear and eventually see the wide scar stretching over his left eye.

“Sabo, right?” you ask, approaching with a small bounce in your step. “Luffy’s brother?”

He extends his gloved hand. “Yeah, that’s me. Wonderful to meet you, miss…”

“(Y/N),” you greet, shaking his hand.

A few others gather around you, including Heat, Killer, and Kid. You wonder who made the groups, if it was Doflamingo or just pure luck. 

You make an effort to know the other, who’s a pink haired boy with an eager demeanor named Koby.

“We’re all set. We’ll be joining up with another group. Ah, there they are. Ace!” calls the blond.

A charcoal haired male turns towards your group, and a lopsided smile forms on his lips. “Hey, Sabo! What’s up? You ready?” 

“Yeah. Did you know about (Y/N)?”

“Who?”

“Me,” you chime. “Hi, you’re Luffy’s other brother right?”

He chuckles. “Yeah, my name’s Ace.”

“Why does everyone have cool names…” you sigh. “Good to meet ya. Hey Luffy, Perona, Zoro, Sanji. And, Carrot, right?” you wave to the three behind him. 

The pale girl nods with a cheery smile. “Yup!”

“Hey! I didn’t know we’d end up in the same group!” Luffy laughs. “Anyway, you met my brothers! Aren’t they cool? Oh, you’ll totally love their familiars. Ace! Sabo! Show her!”

“Hey, Luffy, slow down,” you say, patting his shoulder. “Let’s get out of the auditorium before we do anything.” You pause. “What’s their familiars? How cool are they? What can they do?”

“Alright, I think you were right the first time,” says Sabo. “Let’s go out and get away from the crowd first. We can’t have our familiars out unless it’s an emergency or we’re in the arena. You know this, Luffy.”

As you shuffle out of the auditorium, Perona floats towards you. “I can’t believe you ended up with those three… Bad luck.”

“Or fate,” you joke. “I’m destined to be with them,” you gasp dramatically. 

“Then why don’t you go purpose to them now, jeez,” Perona sighs.

“Hmm. Kid! Killer! Heat! Mmphmimee!” Perona claps her hand over your mouth before you can say the words properly. You laugh and put down her hand. “I was just kidding,” you smile. 

The trio look at you weird, and you giggle.

“The fuck’s her problem?” Kid grumbles. “I swear I’ll shove her head down a garbage disposal.”

“(Y/N), I’ll marry you!” Sanji cries before Zoro smacks him in the head.

“Shaddup dumb blond.”

“Alright, let’s go to the arena first!” exclaims Sabo nervously, trying to prevent fighting, heading away. “Then we can show you our familiars.”

“And how a real fight’s done,” smirks Ace, following Sabo. “Not some petty threats and insults.”

“He’s cool,” you breathe before catching up with the two.

“See, you do think everything’s cool,” Zoro snorts, nudging you.

You nudge him back. “That was cool, maybe you just have a bad taste in what’s cool.”

 

“Sure, and Heat is Perona’s type.”

“Pfft! Was she talking to you about that?” you laugh.

“I was,” Perona huffs. “He’s so creepy! Uncute! Cuteless! I think you should stay away from him.”

“Ya know, what if he’s listening right now and he’s in total love with you, and you just broke his heart,” you dramatise. 

“We’re here!” announces Ace.

The arena is a whole building, stretching high with a glass roof. Inside is a giant stage-like part raised a few feet. On all sides are bleachers, reaching a little over halfway up the walls.

“We use it for a lot of types of fights and tournaments within the school,” Sabo explains. 

“So…” you trail. “Familiars?”

Ace and Sabo share a smirk. 

“Head up to the bleachers and watch,” Ace says. 

“That is, watch how I win,” says pridefully Sabo.

You smile at their competition and head around to the bleachers. You spread out on a few rows next to Perona. Heat, Killer, and Kid have their own little group away from everyone else, and it’s made sure Zoro and Sanji get places away from each other.

Sabo and Ace get on opposite sides and take a fighting stance, neither calling their familiars. 

“3, 2, 1, go!” shouts Luffy.

Ace makes the first move, lunging towards the blond, who dodges easily and throwing a quick few jabs at Ace, doing little damage but teasing him a little. Throwing a full swing, Ace goes in for a punch, and barely misses.

“Mushi!” Sabo calls.

A figure at least three times their size starts forming: the head, then neck, body, tail, and wings. Its high pitched roar emits enormous flames, shooting towards Ace. He rolls away and summons his own familiar.

“Shihono!” 

Another figure that can compete with the dragon’s size forms. It’s like a dog, but it has horns and is black and dark red, and the tip of his ears and tail are fire. 

“What is that?” you whisper.

Luffy laughs. “It’s a hellhound!”

The dragon seemed big enough, but when it opens its wings, it looks easily twice the size. It bursts upwards and above the hellhound before barrelling down, getting ready to swipe with its claws.

Sabo picked up a pipe somewhere along the line and lights the ends of it on fire, while Ace seems to cover his hands in fire. They both lunge forwards and collide, bright fire clashing in a blinding light. Heat explodes in the room, and you can barely see anything.

The light doesn’t die down for another few minutes, more and more blows between the familiars and the two boys are being exchanged faster and faster. 

When you can see again, Sabo and Ace are on opposing sides again, their familiars behind them. Both are a little out of breath, but nothing too serious. They have a couple scratches, but no real wounds.

“Well, I think we should stop before someone really gets hurt,” says Sabo, wiping a bead or two of sweat off his forehead.

“Why? Scared you’ll lose?”

“Big talk from the younger one,” chimes Sabo.

“Younger? Says who?”

“Me. One of us is a little more mature, and a little taller.”

Ace pauses. “Two. Two centimetres. That’s barely anything!” he shouts. 

“Well, that’s a big reaction for such a small thing,” teases Sabo. 

“Whatever, let’s just finish showing the newbies around,” Ace grumbles with a childish pout. 

The rest of the tour isn’t anything too special, but it’s fun with everyone messing around. Aside from the common, violent threats from Kid, everyone gets along fine. At long last, you’re given your dorm room and key. After another hour of wandering, you head over to your dorm. You hear yells from outside and listen for a second.

“Eustass-ya, I swear to god if you keep being an idiot I will dissect you alive.”

“Fucking creep!”

Taking a deep breath, you open the door, and the two making the commotion turn to face you.

“What the _fuck_ are you doing here?”


	5. 2.1

“What the _fuck_ are you doing here?”

“Erm… It’s my dorm room?” you say awkwardly, glancing around the half destroyed room. “Were you guys fighting again?”

“(Y/N)-ya, please stay out of it this time. I need to beat sense into this imbecile,” Law states a little too calmly.

“And I need to beat that shitty raccoon into a bloody pulp,” Kid seethes malice.

You gulp. “Okay, uh… How about you two do that later? You guys could get expelled for this type of stuff. I think. You could set up an official fight in the arena?”

“Thanks for the consideration, but I’d rather finish this now,” Law says, getting ready to attack again.

The two go back to clashing and spewing insults at one another. 

_Think, (Y/N), think! If you don’t stop them, someone will get hurt, and the room will be destroyed. What could I do? What do they have pride in, what do they want…_

“It’s kind of lame neither of you are even trying. I mean, you guys are weak and not at your full power!”

The two snap their heads at you, and you swallow a squeak of terror.

“I bet you two would be so much stronger if you could use your familiars, right? Then at least it’d be half interesting.” Your heart slams in your ribcage, and fear engulfs your stomach.

“Imagine how much more damage you two could do to one another if you could use your familiars. You could do that in the arena in an official match.” _Where everything is regulated and no one really gets hurt, and plenty of people are there to help keep things under control,_ you add silently. 

Kid cracks his knuckles. “Like I give a shit? I could slaughter both of you without my familiar.”

“What? Afraid to lose with an audience?” you provoke, barely keeping your voice confident. 

“Bitch! I’ll show you! Shitty racoon! Fight me in the arena!” 

Law smirks and cocks an eyebrow. “Smart girl. Or maybe just a stupid boy,” he remarks offhandedly. “Fine. You get your wish, but keep in mind we are your roommates. Perhaps it’s best to simply get used to it.”

Shivers slide down your spine. “Right,” your voice manages. 

Kid grumbles some curses and storms out of the room, bumping you not so lightly as he passes.

You let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks. For cooperating in the end, there.”

He chuckles. “At first, I thought you had a death wish.”

“At first, I thought I was gonna get my head ripped off,” you shudder.

“Me too,” he snorts. “Well, welcome to your dorm.”

“There’s supposed to be four, right? Students in a dorm? Do you know the fourth?”

He nods. “He came in earlier.”

“Oh…” He questions with a soft hum. “I was hoping it was a girl,” you admit sheepishly. “I didn’t want to be the only girl in the dorms. When they said co-ed, I was kinda hoping they split it two and two.”

“I don’t think it’ll be an issue with him.” You cock your head to one side. “You’ll see when you meet him.”

“Right. Thanks again for being a little more… rational? Than Kid?”

“No problem. Though, it’s not much of an accomplishment to be more rational than him.”

Two days pass, and you get to know everyone a little more. You also meet your fourth roommate, named Drake, and like Law said, you and him do get along fine.

You get closer with your friends, even Heat and his group. Well, more like Kid and his group, considering he’s kind of like the leader. Same with Law, who has a small group of friends as well, but you didn’t meet them earlier since they took the physical tests on different days to increase the likelihood of their passing.

Speaking of Kid and Law, they’re facing off in the arena soon, and you squirm on the bleachers in slight anticipation and anxiety. You tried to get Law to tell you about his familiar and powers, but he just smirked and said to ‘be patient.’

“It’ll be fine,” Drake says. “There are referees that’ll stop them if it gets to be too much.”

“Yeah, I know. That doesn’t mean I’m not worried, though. I have no clue what this school defines as ‘too much.’”

“Don’t worry too much. I think they’re stronger than you give them credit for. Let’s just watch.”

“(Y/N)!” calls Perona. “Who’s this?”

“Oh, right. This is Drake, he’s one of my roommates. Drake, this is Perona,” you introduce.

“Wonderful to meet you,” Drake smiles politely.

Perona eyes him and hums. “I’m glad there’s at least another sane one in that room,” she comments, sitting next to you. “So, who do you think’ll win?”

“Hm… I don’t know. What do you think Perona? Drake?”

Perona thinks aloud, “Not sure. I think Kid is super powerful without his familiar, and will be even stronger with it, but Law is, too. Plus, he’s got the brains to probably win, but it’ll depend,” she trails.

“It may be a tie,” you say. “They could end up evening each other out into a stalemate, or start hurting each other enough the refs step in.”

“I’m betting on that,” Drake says honestly. “Considering all the other fights…”

“Yeah,” you nod. “It’ll probably all balance out, and I doubt they’ll be satisfied with that,” you sigh.

“I wonder where Luffy and everyone is? I didn’t think they’d miss this,” Perona comments suddenly. “It’s gonna start soon…”

You notice the time. “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe they’re looking for Zoro,” you giggle before shooting Nami a text, and within a minute, you get an answer. “Oh, they’re on their way. They’ll be here in a minute or two,” you inform.

Soon, they arrive and take a seat next to you, Drake, and Perona. The arena is pretty full, but not enough to where it’s cramped or uncomfortable. Minutes tick by, and an announcer speaks up.

“Welcome, to the first official fight of the year!” he speaks energetically. “Today, we have a survivor of Flevance, curer of Amber Lead disease, Trafalgar Law!” Cheers ring out and said male steps out with a lazy smirk on his lips, eyes scanning the bleachers. His hazy yellow eyes rest on you and he offers a small wave.

“Fighting him, we have much more than just your average street thug. A natural born fighter, winner of the Colosseum three years ago against part of the Donquixote family, Eustass Kid!” More cheers from the crowd as the redhead steps out, a vicious grin on his purple-stained lips.

“Oh my god my friends are famous,” you gasp.

“Friends?” Zoro cocks an eyebrow, but you ignore his comment as the announcer continues.

“Who will turn out to be the victor? Have those who wish to bet placed theirs?” 

Woos from the crowd.

“Good, this’ll be an interesting battle! And ready… Fight!”

Kid makes the first move, calling out his familiar. “Malik!” A gorilla the size of several elephants forms, letting a mighty yell and banging its chest. 

Law yells out, “Heart!” and his own familiar forms. Its white fur is peppered with black spots and comparable in size with the gorilla on the opposite end.

The gorilla launches itself towards the snow leopard as Kid goes for Law, but both dodge with ease. The familiars fight like their masters, Law’s swift and quick witted, Kid’s focused on strength and brute force.

Kid himself is able to land a few left jabs, but Law is able to avoid the right hook. He jumps back and says something, you can’t hear with the clashing of the familiars, but a blue film covers the fighting space, tinting your view.

“And it seems Trafalgar is the first to reveal his power!”

Kid charges at him, rolling something out from his sleeve into his hand. “Shitty raccoon!” he yells, throwing the small metal ball from his hand.

He aims his palm towards it. “Expand!”

Just as commanded, it expands into a metal dinosaur, probably a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Each scale is an individual metal plate, and as it roars and tilts its head up, the metal plates flatten like dominoes, one after another down the line of his back and tail. 

“That’s… awesome,” you breathe, leaning towards the edge of your seat. “A dinosaur…” Drake glances at you, and a smile ghosts on his lips.

“And Eustass reveals his! This match is gonna be a close one!”

The dinosaur goes to attack Law, but he jumps out of the way and speaks again, swiping his hand towards his left. As if following his orders, the dinosaur is flung to the left and smashed into the wall of the arena, right below you. 

Law swipes his hands a few more times, but soon, Kid catches on and faces his palm forwards, stopping the motion. “Attract, contract!” It flies towards Kid and shrinks back down, and he slips it in his sleeve again.

The redhead lunges forwards, sending punches towards Law, who easily dodges. Distracted with Kid, Law focuses on dodging. Kid smirks and slides four, small metal spheres from his sleeve behind Law.

“Expand!”

They do, and this time, it’s four giant animals—a dinosaur, a griffon, a mammoth, and a dragon. 

“The fight is really beginning now, keep your eyes peeled, this is about to get intense!” 

The four beasts attack simultaneously, and Law can’t keep up. He’s beaten back and forth through the air, faster than you can see clearly, between the four. Blood trickles down his head, and his tan skin is littered with scratches and quickly forming bruises.

“Oh my god, Law,” you whisper.

“And Eustass is in the clear lead! Trafalgar’s being tossed around like a toy, what will he do?” the announcer exclaims. 

Law retaliates as quick as he can before he gets hurt any more. “Eustass-ya,” he growls, regaining his focus and suddenly switching spots with Kid. 

The machines stop their assault and help him to the ground. “Half contract,” says Kid, and the griffon shrinks down enough that Kid can jump and mount it. It flies up to give him a vantage point. He opens a hatch on the machine and shuffles his hand in it before grabbing a handful of small spheres.

“And Kid is in the air! He has more… Will it be an army of machines?”

“Oh god I hope not,” you mutter.

He sprays the spheres down, and you expect a million giant beasts to pop out, clearly so does Law, but they don’t. 

“Bullets,” says Law, running away. Kid scoops more and makes it rain bullets. 

The announcer taps a few buttons, and a force-field forms around the arena, blocking the audience from harm. “And Eustass takes a new approach. Will he hit? How much longer can Trafalgar dodge?”

Law keeps running, but the bullets don’t let up. Kid’s familiar and machines focus their attention towards Law and attack him, but not before his own familiar attacks the machines.

Sparks fly from the punctures of the leopard’s teeth. The metal is crushed, and the only one left is the griffon Kid rides on. The gorilla is bleeding bright orange blood that trickles from his head, torso, and arms.

Kid writhes with rage and commands for Malik to disperse, and the familiar is tucked away. He orders the griffon to attack. It grows back to its giant form, and the redhead jumps off. 

“You and your shitty familiar are gonna pay!” he promises, sprinting as a blur towards Law.

The griffon strikes Heart with its talons, tearing away skin and clumps of fur, and the white and black is stained with vibrant orange. In return, the leopard tears off one of its front legs with its teeth.

Law swallows as he watches the machine attack his familiar once, twice, thrice more, more blood splashing across the arena.

“Keep focused unless you wanna die, bastard!”

“Shit!” Law can’t dodge or block fast enough, and Kid lays a heavy blow at his gut. He spits blood out and falls back.

He clutches his stomach for just a second before hitting back, succeeding in only staggering him a step or two. But a step or two is all he needs. Within a second, he throws several punches to pressure points, and Kid can barely stand. 

With a hard right hook, Law bloodies up Kid’s face. 

You’re so focused on the fight, the sudden shriek of terror rips your attention from the two boys to the familiar and machine.

The familiar is on the ground, orange gushing at an alarming rate from wounds scattered along his body. 

“Halt back!” Law yells in horror, and the leopard barely has enough strength to tuck away.

It’s not that the machine isn’t damaged. It is. It can barely move. But it can be fixed. But from the wounds on the familiar, you aren’t sure how easily it can be healed.

“Shit!”

The announcer stares a few seconds after, in shock. “It appears that the refs have called out the match! The familiar has suffered multiple fatal wounds and needs immediate attention. This match is a tie!”


	6. 2.2

“It appears that the refs have called out the match! The familiar has suffered multiple fatal wounds and needs immediate attention. This match is a tie!”

Kid and Law spew out curses. A team of medics rush into the arena, shouting demands to Law. 

“Keep the familiar out! It’ll die if it stays in your Seal, it needs immediate attention!”

He cringes for a second before calling out Heart. Dreadful seconds tick by as his familiar slowly forms, whines of pain emitting from it. It’s less than half its full size.

With haste, the medics carry out the snow leopard on a stretcher. An unsure silence fills the arena, and the audience slowly files out until you and your group are the only ones left. Law and Kid stand in silence, and the redhead eventually walks out, Law not so far behind him.

You rush from the bleachers to Law. “Hey!”

He glances at you. 

“I… You did good out there.” It’s the only thing you can think of to say. “Are you alright? Did you wanna help the medics? You’re a doctor, right?”

“A doctor for humans,” he states, a regretful frown on his lips. “I can’t help him.” And below his breath, murmurs of being unable to save anything.

You gulp nervously. “Ya know, you’re really strong.”

“ _Clearly_ not,” he grunts, walking without you.

You catch up quickly. “ _Clearly_ so. You fought off basically 5 familiars plus Kid,” you point out. “You were at a disadvantage, but you still fought on even grounds. That’s strong. Meaning Heart is strong too. Meaning he’ll be fine.” 

His burnt yellow eyes drift to yours, and he cracks a half smile. “Yeah. Thanks, odd girl.”

“No problem, kid genius.”

“Kid genius?” 

“Yeah, Mr. ‘I Survived And Found A Cure To A Deadly Disease And Am Too Cool To Tell Anyone.’”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you?”

“No!”

“To be fair, it’s not something that comes up in everyday conversation.” A comfortable silence washes over the two of you as you walk to no place in particular. 

His voice breaks the quiet. “You know, you’re nice to be around. You lighten the mood easily.”

The comment takes you by surprise. “Me?”

He cocks an eyebrow. “Yeah, you. Why’re you surprised? You’re always happy and good with people.”

“I—thanks. You’re nice company, too.” You smile up at him.

He wants to scoff and deny, but he can’t bring himself to. A quiet ‘thanks’ and a hidden smile is all he manages. 

A few hours pass, and staff finds Law and you and tells him to go see his familiar. You tag along to the infirmary, where a nurse shows you to a room, just like a normal hospital, but for familiars. 

In a cozy room lies Heart, fast asleep, with bandages covering nearly his entire body. Only a few tufts of fur you can see that peek out of his bandages. 

The nurse speaks up, “He’s in a coma state, and his wounds are indeed fatal. But the familiar healing process is very different than humans’, as you should know, Mr. Trafalgar.” 

He nods gravely. 

“We estimate he’ll stay in a comatose for another few weeks, at least. Of course, we don’t know the specifics of the familiar, and the estimate is for an average familiar, which yours is far from. Since we have no real scale, that’s the best we can give you.” The nurse leaves the room.

You stare in silence for a moment.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault he got hurt,” you whisper. 

“Hm? How so?”

“If I hadn’t insisted on it being an official match, you wouldn’t have been able to use your familiar, meaning he wouldn’t have gotten hurt. I thought… I thought if it was an official match, nothing would get too intense, but I was stupid. Really, really stupid, and disgustingly naive, and if I wasn’t, then Heart wouldn’t be like this.” You start to physically shake. “I’m sorry I’m so stupid, I’ve always been like this, all stupid and no streng-”

He slaps you, stopping your words quickly.

“I’m sorry, I know that wasn’t necessary. But, don’t,” he says lowly. “Don’t talk like that about yourself. It was our stupid fault for fighting all the time anyway. Besides,” he sighs, “I agreed to the fight. I knew something like this could happen. That’s what fighting is. It’s my fault he’s hurt.”

“I—Sorry. It’s really no one’s fault. What happened, happened. No need to blame anyone. It’ll just make us feel bad,” you laugh dryly. “Do you want time with him, or…” 

“I’m good. I think it’ll be best if I go get rest. I’m tired, and it’d be bad for his recovery if I’m in a bad state.”

“Right. Whatever you say, Kid Genius. Wanna head back to the dorm?”

He hums ‘yes.’ 

When you make it back, the dorm holds a few awaiting people in it. 

“(Y/N)! Traffic! Are you guys okay?” Luffy exclaims, jumping towards you. Ace and Sabo hold him back by back of his shirt.

“Just Law is fine,” reminds Law awkwardly. “And we’re fine. How’d you guys get in?”

“Drake,” points Perona. 

“Jeez just toss me under the bus,” he mutters. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, it’s your dorm too,” you laugh. 

Law scoffs. “I would have preferred—” You elbow him in the side. 

“So, how’s Kid? Where is he?”

“I think he’s over at one of his friend’s dorm,” Drake responds. “Why?”

“I wanna check in on him.”

Half the room sends you shocked looks and the other half sends you confused ones. “What? He’s my roommate, at the end of the day. Plus, he just needs help. I think.”

“Well, that’s not particularly convincing,” Zoro says. “But how’re you gonna even find him?”

“Heat,” you reply simply as you send said male a text. Seconds later, you get a small buzz, informing you of an answer. “I’m gonna go now. Everyone should head out, too. Law needs rest.”

 

You find the right room, a floor above yours. The door’s slightly open, and a smile finds its way onto your lips.

“Knock knock!” you chime, pushing open the cracked door.

“Oi, this is who was coming over?” Kid snarls.

“You didn’t tell him it was me?” you whisper to Heat, who shrugs and shakes his head.

“It’s mine and Killer’s dorm, we can have whoever we want over,” he points out as Kid groans.

“You knew too!” Kid growls accusingly at the masked blond.

Killer sighs. “Yeah. So?” Kid’s eye twitches. “It’s mine and Heat’s dorm, we can have whoever we want over,” he repeats, and you can hear the amusement in his voice. 

“Asshole,” the redhead grunts. 

“Uh, are you doing alright?” you speak up. “After the fight and all, I mean. And how’s your familiar doing? What was his name again, Malik?”

Kid eyes you dubiously. “What do you want, bitch.”

You shift awkwardly. “To see if you’re alright? What else?”

“You’re so…Ugh! I hate you!” he yells.

“Thank you!” you shout back.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, bitch!”

“I don’t know! Why are we yelling!”

Wire pinches his nose. “Could you both maybe stop yelling?”

“Sorry. Hey, is that from today?” you question. 

“Is what from today?”

“That thing?” You try pointing at his face, but he only gets more lost. “You know, the bandages covering half your head?”

“Oh, that little thing. Yeah.”

“Is it alright? It’s not particularly well done, did you go see the infirmary?”

“Er…I did them,” Killer says. “I’m not a doctor or anything, but at least it’s better than those two,” he nudges his head at Heat and Wire.

“That’s fair,” Wire admits. 

“I can redo them, if ya want. And your familiar, too.”

“We can’t have them on campus, dumbshit.”

“No one will know if you have him a manageable size and in here,” you say. 

He pauses, as if almost considering it, before scowling. “Hell no, bitch! Get out.” He shoves you out and slams the door on your face. A little ‘click!’ informs you it’s locked.

“Rude!” you shout at the door. A couple minutes pass by, and you realise they’re not gonna open it up again, and you leave. You huff and exit the first year dorm building. 

Walking around the large campus, you have time to think. You find you’ve adapted much easier than you thought you would to living away from your family. It’s less stressful, at least until school really starts, and you have plenty of friends and reasons to smile.

You’re so engrossed in your own thoughts, you bump into someone much larger than you, and you want to hit yourself at how cliche it is. You end up falling, when a gloved hand catches you by the wrist. 

He stares down at you, magenta eyes burning into yours. “Are you alright?”

_______ Notes:

Note : Who do you want this story to feature/focus on? I can really go any way, I just need some reader input :)

____

Note : Okay, just… quick little note because this isn’t really going to be brought up later, but story Reader knows it, too, so it’s all good. Just making sure you, as the reader, know it from the outside.

When Law says “It’s my fault he’s hurt,” he’s not trying to make Reader feel better. He genuinely feels responsible for what happened. He’s mad at Reader because it’s his fault, and he doesn’t want her to pretend it was her fault. He likes to own up to his shit, I think. *Just clearing that up okay thanks*


	7. 2.3

Flampe hurts my soul to write and she literally only has like two lines

_______

“Are you alright?”

You pick yourself up and stand, slightly dazed. “Uh, yeah, I’m fine,” you say absentmindedly. “Sorry for bumping into you.”

He adjusts his giant, bushy scarf before speaking again. “No worries.” Squeals from the distance ring out. 

“Katakuri-onii-sama! Where are you? It’s me, the best younger sister, Flampe!”

The tall man cringes. 

“Do you uh… need help with that?” 

“No.”

“Onii-sama!”

You chuckle. “I’ll help ya, Mr. Katakuri-onii-sama.”

Barely resisting gritting his teeth, he responds, “Just Katakuri is fine.”

“C’mon, let’s go to the cafeteria,” you point in the opposite direction of the high pitched calls. He hesitates for a moment, remaining still and silent. 

Peeking around for the girl, you wait for him to decide. 

“I’ll go, then.”

You start walking with him, speed-walking to keep up with his long strides. “There’s this place in the corner I found that no one can really see cause it’s blocked by part of the kitchen walls. I’ll show ya.”

You lead him inside. 

“I don’t see it,” he grunts.

“That’s kind of the point. Follow me, it’s right around this corner. See?” The booth rests snugly in a corner, surrounded by three walls.

“Right, I don’t go in here often.”

“Where do you get food then?”

“Private chefs,” he responds casually. “I appreciate the help, girl. I do not see her finding us.”

Beaming, you nod. “Sure! Glad to help. But I think we’d hear her before we see her. I didn’t even see what she looked like.”

He shrugs and sighs. “She’s my sister. I appreciate her, but she goes out of her way sometimes.”

Agreeing, you hum. “I get it. One of my brothers is, well… kinda like her. I love him and all, but he’s a tad too energetic sometimes.”

“You seem familiar. Do I know you?”

“I doubt it, I’m just a normal girl, and you’re from the Charlotte family, aren’t you? Charlotte Katakuri, the second son, right?”

His eyes narrow. “It’s not a secret. But who are you?”

“(Y/N). Good to meet ya.” 

“What’s your last name?”

“Anyway, you’re one of the Charlotte’s heavy hitters, right?” you ask, ignoring his question. “That’s really cool! I remember seeing you show off that one time, with your advanced mountain lion familiar! What was its name? Ka…Kara…Kira…”

“Karas,” he says. “You must be a (L/N)?”

You freeze upon his words.

“I see. (Y/N) (L/N), yes that’s right. Interesting.”

“I have to go,” you mutter. “Sorry I couldn’t treat you to anything. Later.” You exit the cafeteria at the most normal speed you can manage before hurrying your pace. 

_Sometimes,_ you think bitterly, _I forget that’s my last name. I’m sure they do too._

You stop in the middle of campus and subconsciously clench your fists and look down. Squeezing your eyes shut tight, you force back the warmth that tries to escape from your usually happy (E/C) eyes. 

“(Y/N)?”

A sudden panic shoots through you, and your head jolts up. You relax in an instant. “Zoro, hey. Sorry, I zoned out there for a second,” you laugh, though a blurry venom lies underneath the fine exterior. 

“Right.” He narrows his eyes. 

He knows something is clearly off. He’s never been good at the whole communication thing, but you usually are able to spark some conversation and carry him along. But you’re oddly silent, and he’s unsure of the right words to say.

“Did you need something?” you ask.

“Not really, you just looked, uh, sad.”

“Oh, thanks for checking in. Hey, while we’re together, do you wanna go somewhere?”

He cracks his knuckles out of habit. “Just us?”

“Sure. We could go off campus and go somewhere.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

You head out, taking a taxi. The ride isn’t that long, but the academy is secluded so it still takes around half an hour to get into town. 

“You know,” you start while walking by stores, “The towns around the school are all adjusted for us. Isn’t that cool? I mean, look there. It’s a weapons store with swords and guns, and over there is a magic enhancer shop! And—Zoro where’re you going?”

“To the weapon store, it looks cool. Let’s go.”

“Sure! But, it’s this way.” You grab his wrist, leading him in the right direction. “You fight with swords, don’t you? Do you have any at your dorm?”

You and him enter the shop, a bell dinging. 

“Yeah, but I only have one right now. The other two were broken.”

“I see. Well, maybe we can get one here? I brought money, if you could pay me back later I could loan you some. Though, it’s not much.” 

“Thanks, let’s look around, first.”

In a section towards the right, there’s swords lining the wall. Small price tags with large numbers on them hang just above them. In a corner, there’s two barrels of swords with the label: ‘$100 per’ on it. 

“I’m gonna look at those,” he says. As if he knows exactly which one he wants, he plucks one out and smirks. Unsheathing the blade slightly, he hums and nods. “This one. If it’s alright?”

“Yeah, sure!”

When you and him bring it up, the cashier looks at the chosen sword dubiously. “No. I can’t sell you this.”

“Eh? Then why is it out for sale?” growls Zoro. 

“Ah! You see, this is, well, a cursed blade. If I sell it, surely the curse will pass to me, and…” he rambles, explaining exaggeratedly with over-the-top hand movements.

He doesn’t stop until a lady comes in and smacks him on the back. “Oh hush! Just sell it to the poor boy and girl, look at them! They’re sick of you already, and they’ve only had to deal with you for a minute!”

“Sorry… But I refuse!”

She smacks him again. “I’m very sorry for him. You found that in the barrels?”

“Yes’m,” you respond for the both of you. “We didn’t mean to cause any trouble, sorry miss.”

“How polite. Don’t worry about it, he’s just annoying!” 

“But, it’s a cursed blade,” he moans in half-fake agony. 

Zoro snorts. “Well, then.” He unsheathes the blade and lets the scabbard lie on the counter. “Let’s see what’s stronger. This thing’s curse…” He throws the sword up, spinning, and holds out his arm. 

It twirls through the air, razor sharp blade threatening to slice off Zoro’s limb. But it barely misses, the back hovering against his flesh, before sticking into the ground. 

“Or my luck,” he finishes, a cocky smirk on his lips. “See? No problem. I’ll take this one.” 

The cashier trembled. “The Sandai Kitetsu’s curse… I’ll be free from it… Hold on!”

He scurries off somewhere. The woman smiles kindly at you two. “It seems like perhaps he’s finally come to his senses. Sorry again about him, he can be troubling. A lot.”

“Here!” he shouts, announcing his arrival loudly. “Take this! In honour of your courage. Please, take it. It’s name is Yubashiri,” he says, presenting another sword. “And that one as well, for free.”

You and Zoro share a glance. “Thanks,” he says, bowing. 

He takes the two swords and heads out.

“Zoro?” He hums. “That was really cool.” You smile at him.

He clicks his tongue. “Yeah. I know.” You snort. 

“So, you’ll have three swords now? Are you a collector?”

“No, not really. It’s just that I needed more so I could fight properly. I fight with three swords,” he explains. 

“Three?” He nods. “You’ll have to show me sometime. How do you hold the third one? With your mouth?” You laugh.

“Yes,” he says, completely serious. “I use Santoryu, a style where I can fight with all three swords.”

“That’s both amazing and hilarious at the same time. Hey, we should probably head back, now, it’s getting kinda late,” you notice. “I’ll call up a taxi.”

“Right.”

By the time you get back, it’s already dark, and you realise just how much has happened in just one day. _Kid and Law fought, Law’s familiar got fatally wounded, I got locked out of Heat and Killer’s dorm, Katakuri goes to this school and I bumped into him, he found out who I was, and I went out with Zoro._ you mentally recap. 

“It’s been really busy today,” you sigh. “I’m so ready to go to sleep.”

“You and me both,” Zoro agrees.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Night.”

“Night.”

_______

Note : Hehe, so this was a lighthearted chapter, but it’s good to have just a funsies part here and there.


	8. 3

“(Y/N)? What are you doing here?” Ace asks.

“I’m…in my math class? It said room 101. This is room 101 right?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. We’re just a year older, so we weren’t expecting to see you here,” Sabo trails. “Either of you.”

“Well, we’re here,” Law shrugs. “And,” he sighs, “So are they.” He nods his head towards Kid and Killer. 

Sabo and Ace exchange awkward glances. 

Sabo speaks up after a short silence. “So, (Y/N), remember the pink haired guy, Koby?”

“Yeah, he was in our group, right?”

“Yeah. Apparently he transferred to World Gov. Mage Academy. Heard it was cause of bullying from him.” He points to Kid for a second. 

“Wow… Really?”

“That’s what staff said.”

“Staff?” you ask.

“Yeah, my _little brother_ here is president of the second year student council,” Ace says. “Was the president last year of first years, too. I’m so proud of my lil’ bro.” He fake sniffles and wipes away imaginary tears, ruffling Sabo’s hair.

The blond sighs. “Cut it out, shortie.” He pushes off Ace. “Anyway, what are your guys’ schedules?”

You pull out a sheet of paper, as does Law. “Luffy said we have normal 2nd year schedules,” you say. “But we never got to ask. What does that even mean?”

Sabo looks over the classes. “Oh. Well, first year classes are different since they have their academic classes all together the first three periods. Then second years have math and science first two periods, then English last hour. Third years have math first hour and English and science their last two periods, then fourth years have their academic classes the last three hours.”

“Why?” you say.

“Probably so the mage teachers can teach different classes for different levels,” Law says.

“So…does that mean all the first years have one class, or…?”

Ace speaks up. “Yup. It varies more once you get into later years, but as a first year, yes. But don’t worry about that too much, you’ll be fine, that’s only for your 4-5 hours. Your 3rd hours is the only one that’s a second year level of magics. Speaking of, did you guys take the placement tests?”

You shake your head, as does Law. “Oh.” He doesn’t push further, but he looks like he’s thinking. Then, an “Oohh!” from him. “ _Trafalgar_ Law! Totally forgot you were famous.”

Law sighs. “Yeah. Is it cause of that?”

“Probably. They probably put you in advanced classes cause of your prestige. You can request to be put into normal classes,” Sabo suggests. “They probably won’t take you out of academic classes though. Since you already took the class before this one and passed.”

“No, it’s fine. So academics from previous scores, and magics from achievements?”

“Yeah. Then how’d (Y/N) get in? No offense,” Ace says.

Sabo looks at your fallen face. “No matter,” he says. “We should get ready, the bell will ring soon. Remember how Marco said the teacher was really strict, Ace?”

Catching on, he nods. “Yeah. Our older brother had this class and said it was hell if ya didn’t do what you were told.”

“Duly noted.” You smile at Sabo, grateful, before settling in a seat next to the three and gathering your supplies out. 

Just as Ace warned, the teacher was strict, insisting second years should be mature and responsible, and any slacking off wouldn’t be tolerated. It makes you anticipate your next, perfectly normal, first year class. 

Is exactly what you thought twenty minutes ago when you were in math class, but just five into science isn’t much better. The teacher, Mr. Vinsmoke, is new, and he picks on random students and favours others.

“What’s up with him, do you think?” you whisper to Sanji. 

He grimaces. “Probably just… one of _those_ teachers.” 

“Sanji, do you have an excuse to be talking while I am? That’s your second strike, one more and you’re out.” 

A rather… colourful… handful of boys snicker at him, and the blond grits his teeth. The teacher smirks, as if proud of his work, before continuing on with class requirements. 

You send an apologetic glance to Sanji, who offers a halfhearted smile back. The rest of the class is spent passing notes quietly back and forth between the small square of your friends in the back, many of which consisting of hating the teacher. Even Zoro admits to agreeing it being messed up. 

When the bell finally rings, you file out of the classroom and find comfort in being able to once again talk. 

“That was awful!” you exclaim. “You didn’t do anything, and that stupid rainbow group were laughing at it! And being favoured for literally no reason!” 

“(Y/N)!,” Nami whisper-yells.

“What jerks! What right do they have—”

“Ohoho? What do we have here?” 

You swallow and turn around quickly, looking up at the three boys that loom over you.

“Got a problem with us?” says the blue haired one, a wicked grin on his face.

Already on a tangent, you can’t help but blurt out, “Yeah! I do!”

The blue and green haired ones laugh haughtily, and the red haired one smirks, intrigued. “Now, what would that be?” asks the red haired one slyly.

“That you can’t mind your own business,” comes another voice, even greater than theirs, that looms over even then. “Get outta here.” Kid looks down at them darkly. Killer stands at his side and crosses his arms.

The green one clicks his tongue and shoves Kid, who barely even budges. “How about _you_ get outta here!”

Kid rumbles a chuckle. “That’s cute, little boy. Now scram.” He pushes the green haired boy back to the ground and further, sending him tumbling a couple yards. 

The other two boys sigh and leave, picking up the third and heading down the hall. 

“That was cool, and kinda rude. Kid, you didn’t have to push him!” you scold.

“He pushed me first. And you move, too.” He and Killer brush past your group, and your excitement dies down.

Law snorts. “Let’s go, (Y/N)-ya. We have hand-to-hand combat training.”

“Hand-to-hand combat? Woah, that’s cool!” Chopper says. “How come we don’t get hand-to-hand combat…”

“It’s uh… complicated? I’ll explain later, we have to get to class, though. See you guys later!”

“Right. Bye.”

You find yourself surrounded by mostly second years in the next classroom. Only you, Law, Kid, Killer, Heat, Wire, and the three multi-coloured haired boys (who now have a fourth addition, who’s a girl with pink hair) are first years you know of. Only a couple second years you recognise, the two being Ace and Sabo. 

You know another, whose name is Charlotte Pudding, but you’re unsure of her year. 

The teacher makes his introductions. “You may address me as Mr. Dragon or Sir. Since we can’t begin without having these signed first,” he waves a small stack of light pink papers, “And at least 24 hours to fully understand what this class is, today’s a free day. Just don’t be loud.”

Unfortunately, the rest of the week is like that, except in Science, English, and Math. Even in the repeat classes you have in a week, though (Basic Magics, Healing Magics, Charms, and Potions), you don’t do anything. Apparently they want all the classes to start at the same time. 

But when the second Monday comes around, you’re happy to go to school, for once.

 

 

Note : This is Reader’s schedule:

 

1 2 3 4 5 6  
Monday Math Science Hand-to-Hand Combat Agility Training Basic Magics English  
Tuesday Math Science Familiar Training II Strength Training Basic Magics English  
Wednesday Math Science Self Defense Stealth Training Basic Magics English  
Thursday Math Science Potions Charms Healing Magics English  
Friday Math Science Potions Charms Healing Magics English

 

(Or if the spacing is off on your device)  
Monday:  
Math, Science, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Agility Training, Basic Magics, English  
Tuesday:  
Math, Science, Familiar Training II, Strength Training, Basic Magics, English  
Wednesday:   
Math, Science, Self Defense, Stealth Training, Basic Magics, English  
Thursday:  
Math, Science, Potions, Charms, Healing Magics, English  
Friday:  
Math, Science, Potions, Charms, Healing Magics, English


	9. 3.1

“I didn’t even know we had a recreational fighting building,” you say. “I guess I just never saw it.”

“Really? Because it’s an eight story building next to the arena and the infirmary,” Law says, motioning to the obvious, large building you’re walking to. 

“Oh, that’s what that was. I thought it was like… a library or something.”

“Yes, we have the library right next to the arena and infirmary, that makes perfect sense.”

“You know what, Law, maybe the books wanna fight sometimes and they need to be close to the arena and infirmary in case they get hurt.”

He sighs. “Sure they do.”

You enter the building. The bottom floor is just a lobby, but from the lobby is a staircase that takes up most of the space in the middle. It branches off into two other stairways that touch the walls. 

“Third floor,” says Dragon from the back, who’s watching to make sure no one misbehaves.

You take the left way with Law and continue up the stairs that line the walls in a square-like spiral. The third story is like the main arena, but smaller, and seats are only present against the long ends of the room up to around 2/3 of the wall, the remaining space being windows.

As the other students arrive from the other side and behind you, they file into the seats on either side, and you find a spot with a small group you’re familiar with. When the instructor enters, he stands just in front of the staircase. He clicks a button on the side of the wall, and two large shudders on either end shield the staircase.

“Today,” he announces as everyone quiets, “We’ll start with small one on one battles. Just to see where everyone is. And throughout the year, I’ll be able to help you improve. When you hear your name, stand and find your partner.”

He begins listing off partners, and you recognise a few. Sabo, Ace, Kid and his gang, Law, and finally you hear your name.

“(Y/N) and Ichiji.”

You stand, looking for your partner, and you’re definitely not disappointed. It’s the red haired one of the rainbow haired quartet. He, like those before you and him, heads down to the main fighting space. You follow suit and meet him there.

You glare at him from the side as you await further instruction. 

“I can see you staring at me. What do you want?” he says, voice void of any hints of emotion.

“I just am neutral about your existence.”

He pauses for a second. “What?”

“I mean. You’re a jerk and I wouldn’t like you, but I don’t know you so I wouldn’t know you really. And because I hate disliking people, so I’m neutral about you. Which is bad. I like basically everyone,” you explain, pouting. 

“Right.”

“Jerk,” you mutter, but you don’t get the chance to say anything more as Dragon begins explaining. It’s just the basic rules: no familiars or weapons, stick with your partners, and stay far enough from other pairs.

“Get ready,” says Dragon, “And begin!”

Ichiji stands, and you make the first move. Having your main fighting based around hand-to-hand combat, you figure you’ll be fine.

You land two quick blows at his chest, but the next he dodges to the side casually. He throws three quick punches, but you’re able to duck and jump to the side, out of the way. Already low, you slide your leg above the ground and trip Ichiji. He nearly drops, but pushes off the ground with his hands and regains footing.

You back up a few steps and wait for his next attack. He stands and folds his arms, clearly making no move.

Sighing, you take the next attack and land a strong right hook to his face, and he sidesteps to your left, where you elbow him in the gut. You growl. It hurts you more than him, it seems.

“You can’t hurt me,” he says plainly, but with clear cockiness.

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve been genetically modified, so puny attacks like that won’t do anything. Even if you were strong---”

“That’s not fair! Jerk!” you shout. You kick him hard between the legs, and he winces and clenches his fists, resisting to look too stupid in front of anyone. “Stupid modified genetics can’t stop this!” 

Tripping him again in his state of vulnerability, you knee him in the face with as much power as you can manage, _denting_ part of it.

He stands straight, clutching the harmed part of his face. Subconsciously he begins summoning his familiar, obvious by the figure forming brightly, before Mr. Dragon steps in.

“No familiars,” he says. “Ichiji, go sit out.”

You hear snickering, and you turn your head to see his two usual companions laughing at him, while the pink haired girl sighs and shakes her head. Much of the class seems to have their attention drawn to you at this point.

Ace laughs and approaches you, patting you with a little too much force on the back. “Nice one, (Y/N), I saw that kick!”

“Huh? Why? Shouldn’t you have been fighting?” It’s a little embarrassing, truth be told. Not exactly a pride-worthy thing.

“You were yelling, you know,” Ace points out. “I think a lot of people saw it.”

“(Y/N), go ahead and sit out as well,” says Mr. Dragon. You open your mouth to protest, but he first cuts you off. “We now have an odd number, for one, and secondly your knuckles and elbow are already bruising, and I’d imagine your knee is, too. Go get it iced and wrapped.”

“Sir, if I may,” Law speaks up. “Ichiji-ya didn’t mean to take out his familiar, and (Y/N)-ya did kick him in the… anyway, it was a self-defense reaction he couldn’t have controlled. It’d be best if he could actually fight. I can treat (Y/N)-ya’s bruises.”

He thinks for a moment. “And those in the infirmary cannot treat them?”

“Of course they can, but they’re so minor I don’t believe it would be logical to confide in them.”

“Fine. Ichiji, go up against Bellamy.”

Law opens up the shutters and the two of you head back downstairs. You hear them closing again on your way down.

“What was that all about?” you ask. “You’ve been a little off all day today.”

“I haven’t had my coffee today. I’m tired and don’t want to fight. Especially not against that brute.”

“Who?”

“Bellamy-ya. He’s essentially Eustass-ya, but stupid, blond, and can’t think for himself,” Law grunts.

“Why do you add those -ya’s at the end of everyone’s name?”

“(Y/N)-ya, I haven’t had my coffee. Ask another time.”

“You sound like a Magic 8 ball,” you laugh. “Kay, I’ll ask later.”

He leads you to the dorm, saying that they really shouldn’t bother those at the infirmary with such minor wounds. Apparently he could go since he has an office, but he’d have to check in and explain why he’s not in class.

In the shared dorm, he ices your knuckles, elbow, and knee (to which you barely keep in some yelps) before wrapping them. “You should be fine,” he says, heading towards the bathroom to put away the stuff, stepping over some metal trinkets, clothes, and random school objects scattered across the floor.

“Thanks. I’m just gonna… clean up here,” you say. “I don’t really wanna go back either. I kicked a guy in his privates, I’m not safe there.”

He chuckles. “Right. But try to stay away from Eustass-ya’s stuff. He’d be pissed if you moved his stuff.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I know where he likes his stuff, he just scatters it out too much.”

He peeks out from the bathroom, watching you meticulously tidy up the floor, folding the clothes and placing them and the school supplies on whoever’s bed the clothes belong to. 

“Really?” he snorts.

“Yup.” You begin sorting out the different parts and projects, placing them around his bed. “He keeps the project stuff together, then puts the different bolts and gears and stuff in a pile wherever, as long as they’re separated. Haven’t you noticed?”

“No. I don’t stare at him,” he retorts.

“Neither do I.”

“You always do. You watch him when he works on stuff in the middle of the night. I can hear the bunk squeaking when you move around.”

“Oh… sorry about that. But it’s really cool to watch him work on it, it’s cool! He’s really good, and he’s good with his hands too,” you say.

Law coughs. 

“Law!”

“Anyway. We should skip the rest of the day.”

You gasp. “Skip? Are you sure? Isn’t that… bad?” 

“You don’t have to if you’re too scared. I’m tired, and even if I wasn’t the rest of the day is boring.”

“Eh? But what about uh… Mr. Shirohige’s class? Or Mr. Tiger’s class? Or… English?”

“Mr. Tiger wants us to scale the 2000 meter cliff by the end of two months’ time, Mr. Shirohige is just as crazy, and English? Really? I’m just saying it’d be nice to skip and just chill for the day. Maybe get some coffee and go out and explore town,” he says, making sure to suggest things you’d like. “That’d be cool.”

You bite your lip. “Yeah. That’d be cool. Let’s do it!”

Note : From now on, I’m updating Mondays/Fridays, but not every Monday and Friday if that makes sense. Just those are the days I’m updating.   
Also, I’ve been super sick for the past week and still decided to go to school since I had a bunch of projects and quizzes, but today I took off so I can probably write a lot cause it really kinda helps me relax. So expect something in other books too, if you’re interested. Probably Desolation and/or Dark Light. (Too much Law, I gotta switch to Kid lol)


	10. 3.2

After changing into much more comfortable clothes, consisting of a baggy pullover hoodie---the type that hugs your wrists but bunches up around your arms loosely---and soft jeans, the two of you head out.

You and Law finish a cup of coffee while walking around to nowhere in particular, just talking. Eventually, you end up near the outskirts of town, looking at older buildings, many of which are old shops that are shut down.

It’s relatively peaceful until you run into another student.

“What the hell are you shits doing here?”

“Eustass-ya,” Law greets with an already tired voice. “Lovely day today, no?”

“Jesus fuck you’re annoying! Go back to school, dumbass.”

“Guys, can we not? Seriously you go at it every time you see each other, doesn’t it get boring?” you say. “Honestly, you guys are like five!”

“(Y/N)-ya, you’re absolutely right. I should be far nicer and less sarcastic. Eustass-ya, you’re makeup looks amazing today. What brand is that, CoverGirl?”

It takes less than a second for Kid to come in swinging, a hard right hook to Law’s head. He budges a step right, and before Kid can retract his hand, he grabs his wrist and digs his nails into the skin hard, and red quickly oozes out. The redhead goes to land another hit, but Law first twists his arm, throwing him onto the ground.

“Guys!”

Kid leaped to his feet in an instant, ready to throw more punches.

“Kid, we should go,” says Wire. “I feel like something’s gonna happen.”

At this, Kid pauses. “Like what?”

You find out quickly, as a police car turns the corner up ahead, the cop probably on little more than a daily patrol. He brakes and the door slowly opens, and Law backs up to you.

“We should run before he sees our faces,” he mutters.

“I second that motion,” says Killer, stepping away from the cop and towards you and Law, the other three doing the same.

“Make a break for it, before he gets out, (Y/N)-ya follow me!” Law whisper-yells.

He bolts away, and you follow him just as instructed. You can hear Kid’s group following. “Split up!” Law calls back. “Not you, (Y/N)-ya,” he adds as you start straying.

A little embarrassed, you nod despite his back turned to you. He turns sharp corners and you follow, getting further behind, your knee starting to really hurt. The bruise worsened from a light purple to a blackening dark blue. You limp, barely keeping up, until you lose him entirely. “Oh god no. Law?”

You hear sirens going off.

“Oh god no. Law!” you yell out, trying to figure out where he went. Full on sprinting away from the sirens, you crash into another person running out from an alley. Their body being much larger than yours, you practically bounce off and fall onto the ground. He stumbles half a step, looking down at your fallen state. “Kid? Oh thank god.”

“Thank god? The hell?”

Flashing coloured lights shine from the corner, and Kid clearly hears the louder sirens. He snatches your wrist, pulling you up and into the corner. You see the front of the car peek out from the corner before your face is stuck in Kid’s chest.

“Shut up for a second.” He keeps you in his lap, tightly holding you into a small space.

You turn your head, but all you see is the side of a dumpster. The other way, a brick wall. Kid stretches his head enough to see over the dumpster. A few seconds pass, and he tucks his head down. He grits his teeth in impatience. You hear the loud wailings cease to move for a solid 20 seconds before stopping completely.

Kid sighs. “We’re gonna have to run.”

“Where?” He points to the wall like it’s obvious. “How?”

 

“Jump it.”

“No can do,” states a deep voice, and you turn around, looking up. A police officer looms over you, grabbing two sets of handcuffs from his belt. “I’m gonna need to see your IDs,” he says.

“Are we gonna be arrested?” you ask.

Kid flicks you on the forehead as he helps (forces, really, but helping under the eyes of the officer) you up. “We’re not gonna be arrested. We didn’t do anything. Running from cops isn’t illegal. Just fun.”

He shuffles through his pockets, as do you. You feel the thin, fake leather of your wallet in your jacket pocket. He glances at you, turning his head to the side just a bit, a silent warning. Hoping you understand, you slip out your school ID from your wallet through the part of the sleeve that hugs your wrist and into the loose, baggy part. Then, you take out your wallet and open it up, searching for it. The officer wanted to verify ages. “I don’t have mine on me,” you say.

“How do you not have your ID in your wallet? You should probably at least have your driver’s license.” Kid scoffs, though the edge of his lip curving just the tiniest bit upwards. He pulls out his own wallet and sifts through the surprisingly large amount of cards he had between the two ends of leather. Gift cards, membership cards, then a bunch of random receipts.

Anticipating an interesting answer, you say, “I had to photocopy it for my passport application, remember?”

“Right, right. To go to Europe for our 5-year anniversary. Didn’t know you forgot to put it back in your wallet,” he says.

“Hey, you’re the one who photocopied it,” you point out, smiling. To the police, a smile of triumph over a boyfriend, but to you, a smile of curiousity as to what’s to come.

“Oh, maybe I have it then. Here’s mine, sir,” he says.

Kid hands out the ID with two fingers, and the officer snatches it. As he examines it, he warily glances up at Kid, who’s going back through his cards and receipts.

“Oh I do have yours,” Kid says. “Here, officer.”

“You did have it!”

“Sorry, love.”

Those words nearly made you laugh, but you held it in, though a smirk clear on your face. His eyes tell you to shut up, even though you’re already silent. If the officer wasn’t there, you’d surely be cracking and holding your stomach on the floor.

The officer finishes checking and, nearly regretfully, hands you and him back your IDs. “Sorry, ma’m, sir. Have a good day.” From there, he gets back in his car and drives off.

“Oh my god!” you gasp. “That was rich! I was scared, but now I just wanna laugh,” you say, doing just that. “But isn’t giving fake ID illegal?” you ask.

“Yeah. It’s fine though, I do it all the time. That’s why I have all these.” Within the folded receipts were more fake IDs and credit cards. A pit of guilt and fear sunk in your stomach, but you ignore it.

“Woah, that’s actually kinda cool,” you say, though the words hold little merit. You look at yours. “Jane Siwn. That actually kinda looks like me. Same colour hair, skin, eyes. Why do you have so many?”

“Never know what type of situation you get into. Besides, truancy can get ya expelled. This is the one school I’d mind getting expelled from.”

“Did you usually get expelled for skipping?”

“Yeah. That or illegal drugs, drinking, fights. Just the normal stuff.” He shrugs, holding two fingers out towards you, and you hand him the card. He turns away from you. “You did pretty good, by the way. Not bad, giorra.”

 

(gjɔ: · rɑ: or gyo · rah, given the ‘r’ has a Spanish (or Japanese, if it’s more familiar) flair to it)

 

Note : We're back! Heck yea, it's real snazzy to write again. As I get back into the groove of things, I'll start getting onto a more regular schedule, but for now, have some random bursts of writing :3


	11. 3.3

haha i'm gonna torture (Y/N) soon

________

You lean against the wall, sitting on your bed on the top bunk. Drake sits on his, sitting just as you are, facing you.

“Do you think it’s an upgrade?” You ask.

Drake shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe. I don’t think an ‘upgrade’ is the right term, though.”

You hum. “Yeah, good point. What else would it be?”

“What else would what be?”

“Law! Did you get my texts?”

He pulls out his phone from his pocket, turning it on and flashing the screen towards you, the notifications of your messages clear, filling the screen entirely.

“Clearly. Anyway, what’d what be?” He sits on his own bed, just beneath yours, and takes off his hat. You shift to look down at him, arms folded and resting on the railing.

“Well, Kid used to only refer to me as another word for female dog, right?”

He narrows his eyes. “Right…”

“So, when I got separated from you, I ran into Kid, and the police found us right? But it was fine, he has like 50 fake IDs in his wallet, and he had one that looked vaguely like me. And we played it off that we were older and definitely not commiting truancy. And I did good, and instead of calling me that word, he called me ‘giorra’. So I asked if it’s an upgrade, but Drake’s said ‘PFfT nAh It’S nOT An UpGRadE’ so I didn’t know what it’d be.”

“Okay, first of all I do not sound like that,” Drake says. 

Law sighs. “Why does it even matter? Eustass-ya is really just a brutish idiot.”

 

“Why not just ask? Kid, I mean. Just ask him what it means.”

“That’s a good idea! Thanks, Drake. I’m gonna go find him and ask what it means.”

“Did you really not think of that?” Law asks, snorting.

You paused. “No? I know, I know. I’m stupid and can’t think.”

“I never said that.”

“But you were going to, so I made fun of myself before you could.” You slip on your shoes. “Thanks Drake, Law, I’m gonna head out. It’s getting to be dinner, too. I’m gonna drop by the cafeteria.” You grab your phone and wallet.

“Can you grab me some food? I’ll pay you back,” Drake asks.

“Oh, me too,” says Law.

“Sure, what’d you guys want?”

 

Drake thinks for a second. “There’s a chicken and rice dish, I’ll have that.”

“Make that two,” Law adds. “And be careful with your knee. No more running or anything that’ll stress it too much. If it hurts too much, come back and take some pain medicine.”

“Gotcha. See ya.”

You head out before they can return the farewell.

Since it’d be best if the food was still warm when they got it, you first look for Kid. A small nagging told you that you don’t want to see him. You don’t want to confront him, because he’s a criminal. He’s done bad things, and he’ll get you wound in his string of lies and crimes if you let him. Unsure of how to handle such feelings, you shake them off and check where you think he might be. After all, he’s still Kid.

You look everywhere: the gym building, the arena, the workshop building you didn’t know existed until just now. Eventually, you give up and figure you can ask him when he gets back to the dorm.

But it doesn’t really matter. In the cafeteria, Kid and his little gang are already there. A little bit of anxiety creeps in. You don’t want to disturb them much and you’re not sure how they’ll take kindly to your unannounced and probably unwanted arrival. Looking back, you aren’t sure how you were going to handle it once you found him. Another good part of it is that you know he’s done illegal things before. The seed of anxiety blooms, and you end up grabbing a meal for yourself and sit alone five or six tables away from the group, back facing them.

You wish you’d brought some earbuds or something to ease the illogical nerves and take your mind away from the unexplainable awkwardness. You’re halfway done with your food when the chair in front of your slides out. Your eyes flicker up.

 

“Heat?”

“You looked lonely.”

“Gee thanks,” you respond flatly, sarcasm and a touch of rudeness kicking in from the nerves.

“You can sit with us, if you want. No one really cares,” he offers.

He’s nice, you think. But you wonder how many crimes he’s committed with Kid.

Then, the bit of anxiety of the conversation with Law and Drake if you didn’t talk to Kid. You try to come up with excuses; you don’t want to try to explain that you were uncomfortable with Kid’s misconducts when they seem fine with it---you’d feel dumb. So, despite your gut crawling and rearranging itself, you nod.

“Sure, I guess.”

His frown rose for a second or two before falling back. “I’m glad. Let’s go.”

You smiled and nodded. You pick up your plastic bowl of food and follow Heat. The four start talking again, and you take a few deep breaths to calm your mind and body. In a minute or two, you’re talking normally again, smiling and cracking jokes. And you forget about any uneasiness.

“Hey, what does ‘giorra’ mean, by the way?” you ask offhandedly, though anticipating an answer.

Killer snorts, barely audible from the muffling of his mask. “Wow, Kid.”

“What?” he grunts. “At least I’m not going around callin’ her bitch.”

“And her name is too much to learn?” asks Heat.

“Clearly,” Kid says. “I can’t remember names.”

“You remember ours,” Heat says.

Kid scoffs. “Okay, how hard are normal words to remember? Not that hard.” (Sorry if your name is a name and a ‘normal word’, like May or Autumn or Deathray or something)

Heat opens his mouth to speak, but Wire cuts in.

“Okay, shut up and stop fighting,” he says, sighing.

“It means shorty,” Killer says. “Giorra does, in Scottish.”

You gasp. “Oh! You’re from Scotland? I get it! Red hair, pale skin---” You cut yourself off quickly and bring a hand up to your mouth, covering it as you clear your throat and glance away. “Sorry.”

Killer laughs. “To be fair, I’m Scottish too. No red hair in sight.” He flips a bit of his hair dramatically to emphasize.

“Wow, watch you go. Practically a gay model,” you say, but murmuring the word ‘gay’.

“Woah hold up--” Killer starts.

“Anyway, I’d better go. I said I’d get Law and Drake some dinner and it’s already 6:20.”

“For who?” the blond continues.

You chuckle a little bit, along with the others. “I gotta go. Uh.” The familiar clenching of uneasiness returns, but you quickly shake it off this time. “Thanks. See you guys around.”

You grab your empty bowl and fork and toss it on your way to grab two more full of the requested meals, which you carry back to the dorm room.

__Θ__

“You’re warming up to her quickly. It’s like she was one of us from the beginning,” Wire says.

“She’s so nice, though,” Heat says. “She fits in well with us here at school, but out of school? Don’t you think she’d be horrified at us?”

Kid thinks for a second. “She is.” He tells them about what had happened.

“Doesn’t seem too horrified,” Wire comments.

Killer shakes his head. “I think I get it. Kid?”

 

“Yeah. In a way, she respects us. For having the guts to break the law and shit. But she’s still terrified ‘cause she has no clue how to deal with it.”

“People she considered… friends… are criminals.” Heat spoke the word ‘friends’ cautiously. “How would you handle that if you were as…” He can’t find the right word. “As her.”

“Think of how she’d react when she finds out completely ‘bout Trafalgar and his goons and Diez,” Kid says, a smirk taking over his purple-red lips.

Heat sighs. “Not her.”

Kid’s lips lower to a slight frown and he leans over the table a bit. “Oh? And when’d you tell me what to do?”

“I agree,” Killer says. “Let her be.”

“When you guys get so soft?” Kid clicks his tongue and leans back.

“She does fit in well,” Heat says. “Just a puzzle piece that needed a little bit of squirming to fit in.”

_______

Note : Originally, I had Kid from Ireland cause… red hair… pale skin… that type of stuff, then I was looking at Drake’s wiki page to find his favourite food, then I saw he’d be from Turkey, then I was like oH they have those ‘if they were in real life’ things so I was real worried, but it’s all good cause Kid’s from Scotland, which has the same language origins and stuff as Ireland, so the word didn’t change. (and stereotypes oops am so sorry if you’re from those places)

Note : Guys I have so many ideas for this book you have no clue, and please bear with the less than decent written chapters for the time being. Getting back into (and staying away from) writing is real difficult.


	12. 4

Ew this is a tiny bit of an info dump sorry in advance

 

_______

The teachers don’t mind your and Law’s absence, your injuries enough an excuse (and they didn’t know about the whole going off campus thing). As long as next time a warning was given.

After a long day at school, unwinding and playing video games is nice. Though, you’re pretty terrible at it.

Drake laughs at you. “Wow, you’re awful at this.”

“Oh hush, I never played any games as a kid.” You nudge him with your body, pushing him a little, laughing a little as well. He smiles and his reddens a tad.

“Hey, no need to,” he ‘nudges’ you back much harder (nearly pushing you off the bed if not for the railings), “push me, just ‘cause ya lost.”

You take his pillow and hit him with it. “I don’t know what you mean,” you say, continuing to whack him. “This isn’t pushing.”

“No,” he says, smiling, “But this is!” He takes the pillow from your hands and pushes you onto your back. He straddles your waist and starts whacking you with the pillow.

You squeal, trying to grab the pillow back.

“Payback!”

Kid mumbles some sarcastic comment as he walks in and looks around. “Who touched my stuff while I was gone?”

Drake stops for a second and gets off you, and you sit up. “Oh, I did that, but to be fair it was yesterday.”

He looks around at the shelves, as if trying to find fault with it. “You coulda hurt them,” he says. “Don’t touch my shit ever again.”

“Sorry,” you mutter. “But I didn’t hurt anything, and it’s organised, and we have the floor to walk on now,” you point out.

Kid clicks his tongue. “Whatever.”

You shrug, and Drake hits you with the pillow one last time.

“Thanks, Drake. Appreciated.”

“No problem.”

“Hey, did you get the pamphlet of the stuff we get to do?” you ask.

“Yeah, we got it in first hour. Didn’t you?” Drake says.

Kid scoffs. “We’re smarter than you, we don’t have first year first hour.”

Drake sighs. “Right. Anyway, yeah, I did. Do you wanna look at it?”

“Sure, and thanks. We did hear about the tournaments against WGMA, though. Apparently that’s the ‘thing’ for first quarter.”

Drake nods as he shuffles through his bag that hangs from the wall, just to the left of his bed. “Yeah. Second quarter is a field trip---”

“Field trip?” Kid says. “Sounds real fuckin’ exciting. Wow, we gonna go to Sea World?”

Drake ignores Kid, handing you the pamphlet of information. “Third quarter is the quarter-long game, and fourth quarter is just finals. More info on the thing.”

You look through it, skimming the texts. “Woah, finals are in dungeons?”

 

“Yeah. It’s pretty cool, actually.”

“Looks like it. Well dang, a field trip to another planet sounds pretty cool,” you say loudly, smiling a little.

“Shut up,” Kid says, tinkering with something below you.

“And what’s this game thing?” you ask. “There’s not much information on it.”

Drake shrugs. “It’s different every year. Our teacher said last year it was an all out prank war, and whoever got the most ‘prank points’ won a bunch of stuff, a vacation, and money. The year before that, it was a huge ‘hide and seek’ type of thing, with a bunch of hidden items and people, each with a different amount of points if you found it. Whoever got the most points won.”

“That actually sounds really cool. I wonder what it’ll be this year,” you say, imagining a hundred different possibilities.

The ginger laughs. “Yeah, but it’s usually the fourth years that win, I think.”

“Makes sense. When’s the tournament?”

“It doesn’t say?” he asks, leaning over to check. “It’s right there, September 20 - October 5,” he says. “We’ve got about a month.”

“Ah, I see where it is. So 5 days for teams and 5 for individuals, teams have 5 people max, something something, blah blah. Cool.”

“That was very in depth description, good job,” Drake says.

You laugh. “I know, definitely. Anyway, can you help me study for the science test we have? I don’t get it…”

“Sure, what don’t you get?”

“See, the thing is, I don’t really get what I don’t get.”

He laughs. “Oh boy. Alright, wanna head to the library?”

You nod. “Yeah, let me grab my bag.”

__Θ__

Once you and Drake leave, Kid sighs and lies back on his bed, twisting a screwdriver around his hand.. What to do, he thinks. This one might be harder than that pink shit, but not that bad. He smirks widely to himself, a sadistic inspiration tugging him in the direction he desires.

__⧗Θ__

The first sign should’ve been enough. Drake started acting weird, pushing you away little by little until those little bits turned into a gaping canyon between you two after just a month. Now, he’s left, and even Sabo doesn’t know the full story. Apparently, it just ‘wasn’t the right place’ for him. Bullshit.

“That’s terrible!” Perona says. “Honestly, and he was the only other decent one in that dorm. Hey, are you alright?”

You nod. “I’m fine, I just miss him. It’s gotten quieter in the dorm and more boring.”

She pats you on the shoulder. “You can always come over to my dorm if you need. That Koby boy was supposed to be in our room, so we have an extra space if you ever need a break from your roomies.”

“Thanks!” You smile. “You better keep that offer open, I have a feeling I’ll be using it soon.”

“Anytime. Hey, are you gonna enter the tournament? It’s coming up soon, only a week left.”

You nod. “Of course! I was gonna go teams, since I’m not exactly the strongest individually.”

“Me too, let’s partner up! I bet Nami and Carrot would join too!”

You smile. “That sounds pretty great. I just don’t know about individual. I mean, it sounds fun but I don’t think I’d be able to compete.”

“Let’s go for it! No harm in trying, right?”

“Except you could get seriously injured?” says Law, placing his food tray next to you and taking a seat.

“Hey, what’s up?”

He shrugs. “Nothing, really. Just, tired. Eustass-ya is being more of a pain in the ass than usual.”

“Ahh. Will you ever tell me why you guys fight in the first place? It’s been like that since day one.”

“You’re right,” Perona says. “Back at the exams. Maybe they’re like Sanji and Zoro, just naturally don’t get along.”

“Anyway,” he says. “Don’t go for individual. You’ll really get hurt.”

“You know, Law. I respect you, I care about your opinion, but you’re also kinda like my mom and the more you say I shouldn’t do something, the more I want to do it.”

He sighs. “Figured. Well, I’m sure Headmaster would pull a few strings for you. He’s a little… invested in your progress.”

“Really? I guess it’d make sense… Anyway, are you going to fight? Heart’s mostly healed, right?”

Law nods. “Yeah, he’s made a full recovery. I’d like to enter, I just need to make sure he’s up for it. I’m going for individuals, but I might also do teams with Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin.”

“Sounds fun!”

“(Y/N)-ya, just know… these things can get kinda brutal. Even---especially in teams.”

Perona sighs. “We got in this school, we can take what it brings. Thanks for trying to protect her or whatever, but we’ll be just fine,” she says, smiling. “Hey, let’s go find Nami and Carrot. We need to sign up by Thursday.”

“Yeah, alright. I’ll see you later, Law.”

You make your way to Perona’s dorm, which she shares with Nami.

“You know,” the pink haired girl says, “I don’t think… I don’t think you should spend so much time with the people you do. Maybe spend more time with our and Luffy’s group?”

“Why? What’s wrong with who I spend time with now?”

“(Y/N),” she says, “They’re not good people. I mean, sure, they’re nice people,” she speeds up before you can break into her train of thought, “but they’re not good people. Sabo… He’s done a little---”

“I know. I know, Kid’s committed crimes. It does bother me a little, but they really are good people. They’d never hurt anyone innocent or hurt anyone unjustly. Kid’s just done some not so good things.”

Perona’s eyes shine with a sad kindness. “You’re far too good, (Y/N). Just, keep what I said in mind?”

“Of course!”

By that time, you and her reach the dorm enter, and you sit by Nami, talking about the tournament. She agrees with a bright smile.

Perona watches, a lace of concern stringing through her mind and body for what’s to come.

_______

Usually I'm not one for large timeskips, but I haven't had anything planned within the month till the tournament. I probably coulda stuffed a filler chapter in there but I want to get to the interesting stuff


	13. 4.1

“He should be fine for the tournament,” the lady says, checking her clipboard. “Though, really know what you’re getting into. Of course, I’m sure Heart can handle it, but just be careful. You can still back out.”

Law shakes his head. “I just needed confirmation. We’ll be going through with it.” Heart, currently at the size of a large puppy, nods enthusiastically and rubs his head against Law’s leg. You glance at the boy, a tired confidence threading through his voice. “Is he dismissed?”

“He is, and here’s your note. Keep him out of his seal for now, at least for a few days. Of course, he’s fully recovered, but if anything were to come back…”

Law nods. “I know.” He takes the slip of paper. “Thank you.”

You follow him out of the hospital. “So… Excited for the tournament, huh?”

“Of course. Though, I still think you shouldn’t do it.”

“I don’t see why. I’ve gotten much stronger, especially after classes for so long---”

“It’s been only a couple months.”

“---Not to mention, I’ve done a few arena fights and won them all,” you point out. 

The black haired male sighs. “I know I can’t stop you, but it doesn’t mean I support your decision. Of course, I’ll support you, but doing this is a stupid thing.”

“Thanks for caring, but I wanna participate, too!” you say, determined. 

 

“I see. You know, I find your presence oddly… familiar? Yet weird at the same time. Have we met before this?”

“I doubt it,” you say. “I was never really allowed out of the house as a kid. I had a few friends and stuff, but only family-friends.”

“I see. I’ve been curious, as well, I don’t believe I’ve learnt of your surname? It’s the same with Sanji-ya. Though, he simply brushed it off.”

Your voice catches in your throat. It’s not that you don’t trust him. It’s not exactly a secret, either, you just prefer to not have it be known. 

When the name was ever mentioned, everything would always click together. ‘Ah, yes! The (L/N) family, how prestigious they all are! Aside from that girl, with that weak little familiar and no fighting ability. She may be above the average citizen,’ they’d all say, ‘but she’s leagues below the weakest (L/N) family member,’ they’d all remark, as if you’re not apart of the family. ‘Or, rather,’ they’d all correct, ‘leagues below the weakest Official.’

“(L/N),” you say quietly. You wait for some scoff or a snort of disbelief.

“Ah, that’s where. I believe I have met you before, you liar.” He flicks you on the forehead. “My family did trades with yours at one point. Safety for medical treatment.” He sighs. “Your family is insane.”

You smile tightly before breaking into a genuine laugh straight from the heart. “I know. They really are!” You rant a little, but Law doesn’t pay attention much. He just enjoys the brightness radiating from your smile and laugh and your voice, now returned to its happy demeanor.

The last words he catches onto are “I have to go,” and he watches your figure leave him. Law sighs, tilting his head back and letting the calm sun shine onto his face, as light streams of wind brush through his dark hair.

He takes a few breaths. 

When he returns from his secure place, he sighs. “Let’s go, Heart.” And with that, he trudges towards the office, where Doflamingo and a few others are waiting outside.

“Took you long enough, shitty raccoon.”

Law opens his mouth to make a remark, but the ever-annoying, deep chuckle of the pink, rip-off Big Bird warns him to shut up.

“Now, you two should get along. After all, we can’t just have criminal gangs in this school and fight so much. You have to do at least something to make up, and unfortunately you’ll have to do it together.”

“Says the leader of an underground crime syndicate,” Law murmurs, fully aware Doflamingo can hear him.

But his grin only widens. “Why, dear boy, I’ve no clue what you mean. Now, you’ve had plenty of time to get used to dorm life and training. Ideally, you should be ready for basic Official tasks. Now, it’s time you head off. They’ll bring you back, maybe 2? 3am.”

Kid groans. “Fuck, all we’re doing is patrolling and fighting some rookie criminals, aren’t we? Sounds like child’s play.”

Doflamingo laughs loudly, for a good 20 or so seconds. “Child’s play, hm? Sure, you may be strong, but considering the job, I doubt you’ll make it through your first night. There’s a reason why only ideally you’d be ready. Buffalo! Take them to the beginning of the Grand Line tonight. That should give them a good taste.”

“Yessir!” says the overweight man. “Come on-niin!” 

Kid, Heat, Wire, Killer, Penguin, Shachi, Bepo, and Law slip into the backseat of the pink-lined black limo. Buffalo speeds off, surely at least twice the speed limit.

“Niin! Hold on tight!”

A large buffalo materialises from Buffalo’s seal, running alongside the car. Between it’s horns morphs a swirling, black and blue, circular mess of an orb. It shoots it out, the orb growing into a portal and swallowing the car whole, then spitting it right back out into an alleyway of the beginning of the Grand Line: the most notorious city spanning millions of acres wide, and just as many upwards and downwards.

The two gangs file out of the car, a tad dizzy but too prideful to show it. 

“You’ve got 8 hours of work, niin! Meet your quota, wouldja? I’ll be back when time’s up! Meet… er, actually just stay together! You’ll lose all sense of direction here, niin!”

And with that, the car disappears into a murky portal back to the school. 

“I’m not staying with you,” Kid says.

“Likewise. Can’t have a little kid holding me back.” Heart grew to its monstrous size and let out a roar. “Shachi, Penguin, Bepo, let’s go.” 

Heart carries the three with ease, and with a few bounds, they’re out of sight.

“What an annoying fucker. Let’s go.”

____

“Where were you guys?” you whisper-shout, making sure not to alert anyone else in the building. “It’s nearly 4am! Do you know how worried I was? I thought you guys died or something! And you look like you nearly did!”

For the first time in quite a while, Kid feels guilt pulsing in his gut. The same guilt that crushes Law’s heart. 

“Sorry,” Law mutters.

“Where _were_ you guys?” you persist.

Kid scoffs. “Just, places.”

“Here, I can… Hold on.” You go into the restroom and grab the first aid supplies. 

“(Y/N)-ya, I can treat my own injuries,” Law says softly, grabbing your wrists to stop you. He winces slightly.

“No! It hurts you, doesn’t it? Besides, it’s not like Kid would let you treat him, and you wouldn’t anyway. And you guys still haven’t answered me. Where did you guys go?”

“Why do you have to be so goddamn pushy?” Kid fires back, impatience, exhaustion, and pure pain overwhelming his senses. “I’m just gonna crash. I don’t need some stupid first aid.”

He falls back onto his bed, and within the minute, his breathing slows and he’s asleep. 

“Law,” you say tiredly and quietly, “please tell me. Something happened. I need to know, you guys got hurt. I don’t like seeing you guys hurt.” You begin disinfecting his cuts.

“(Y/N)-ya, we can’t tell you. I’m… I’m really, really sorry,” he says, letting his mind drift away to your gentle touches.

“It worries me, seeing some of the toughest guys I know just… all beat up. It’s like watching my confidence and hopes just demolished right in front of me.” 

Law hums, and you start bandaging what needs to be and wrapping strained joints. 

“I mean, it’s weird, but I look up to you guys. I’ve figured by now you’ve done some bad stuff. Vandalism, stealing. But you guys are strong, and confident. And good people.” 

He snorts. _Vandalism and stealing, huh? Perhaps when we were 10._ Remorse slips in. “Really?” He sighs. “I think you’re tired, you need sleep. You’ve been up just as long as we have.”

“But I’m not injured. I’m fine. And, I guess I might think just a tad too highly of you guys, but there’s nothing wrong with that, so long as I don’t put you up on some kind of pedestal.” Your sweet voice only lulls him further away from consciousness. 

“Or rather,” he says, gripping onto the last of his awareness, “you put yourself too low, and there’s everything wrong with that.”

You smile sadly, eyes reflecting a bitter understanding. “Goodnight, Law.”

_______

I think this story is moving a tad fast? I don’t know, but there’s a lot of stuff happening just before the tournaments, so it may be chapter 6 when I finally get to writing it.


	14. 4.2

18 September. Three nights since Kid and Law came back, beat up half to death. It’s been the same routine since them. They leave late at night, around 9. Every morning they come back around 4, with no explanation as to where those wounds come from. They don’t know it, but it’s stressing you out.

You thought, at first, it was some kind of rivalry, since Heat, Wire, Killer, Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin had just as many injuries (more, really, but that’s beside the point). But you realise quickly that, although they still hate each other for some arbitrary reason, it’s like they’ve found a common enemy. An enemy of an enemy is an ally, you suppose.

Last night, you tried following them, but you were quickly found out. 

The last class of the day finally ends, and you slowly make your way back to your room and nearly collapse on Law’s bed that’s just underneath yours, but you’re able to move up to the top and rest there. 

It takes a good hour of your day for you to finally convince yourself to get up. You’re exhausted mentally. Your brain isn’t used to staying up for all those extra hours worrying about your friends. But you push it aside as you force your body, tired from your mental fatigue, to the workshop building where Kid tends to bid his time to.

He’s alone in one of the welding rooms, piecing together what looks like one of metal creatures. You watch him finish off the piece and set it aside, raise his goggles, and sigh heavily.

“You’ve been here a lot lately, in your spare time,” you speak up. “What have you been fighting so much recently?”

 

He sighs again. “Stuff. Did you need anything?”

You nod. “I was gonna see if you could help me with this project thing, but you seem kinda busy.” You’re not lying, you really do have a project you’ve been working on. But maybe some ulterior motives bring you to this?

“Oh. I’m not really, what’s the project?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I think you should get some rest, I’ll ask someone else to help me. I could ask Sabo and Ace, or I could see if Drake could help,” you say, looking up as if in thought. That one’s a lie. Sabo’s people smart, Ace is… Anyway, you haven’t been able to contact Drake since he left.

Kid clicked his tongue out of annoyance. “No, I’ll help. What is it?”

“I mean, seriously, I don’t need your help. You look tired.” He opens his mouth to make some remark, but you talk first. “But,” you say, “if you tell me where you’ve been going, then I’ll let you help me with it.”

“What? That’s a shitty deal.”

You shrug and spin around, twisting the handle to the door. “Alright.”

“Fine! But you can’t do anything about it.”

You stop and smile, turning to face the redhead. “Alright. Just tell me.”

“The Grand Line.”

It takes a few moments for you to respond. “You’re… you’re kidding right?” He’s not kidding. “No wonder! Why?”

“That’s a question I don’t have to answer,” he says. 

“But… Okay, fine. Could you tell me why you can’t not go?”

“That, giorra,” he says, a familiar smirk returning to his lips for the first time in a few days, “is not information I’m required to give you.”

You look up at him. “Please?”

“Nope, now c’mon. Tell me about this mystery project.”

You force yourself to clear other thoughts from your mind. “Well, I know I’m not that strong,” you start. “So, I’ve been thinking about some weapons that’d help me. I know you like weapons and stuff, so I figured you’d be able to help a little?”

He nods. “Probably. Got any ideas yet?”

“Kind of. I have a few ideas, but I just don’t know what weapon I wanna use. I don’t know what I’d be good with.”

Kid thinks for a second. “Maybe go with small weapons. Maybe a pistol or two, throwing knives, instant inject-poisons,” he suggests. 

A smile captures your face. “That sounds really cool, actually!”

For a split second, he mirrors the smile before ridding of it quickly. “That’s good. How about after the tournaments, I can help you with stuff like that.”

“Really? That’d be great!” you say. “Though, I still think you should tell me why you have to go to the Grand Line, not to mention how you even get there.”

He sighs. “I have to go because if I don’t, I’ll probably---no, definitely be expelled.”

“Oh… wanna tell me why?”

“Nope. We should get food, I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, me too. Let’s go.”

You let Kid clean up his stuff and put his works in his backpack before heading out towards the cafeteria. 

“Are you going to be able to get some good sleep before the tournament?”

He nods. “Yup, I don’t have to go tomorrow night and then on until the night of the 6th,” he says, sounding relieved.

“Are there ever gonna be nights you don’t have to go after that?”

“Maybe. I also don’t know how long I have to go, so that’s something.”

You bite your lip. “What if you die?”

He snorts. “I’m not gonna die from the first part of the Grand Line.”

“You’ll die of exhaustion!”

“I will not.”

“Will too.” 

“Will not.”

“Most definitely will.”

“Most definitely will not. Can you even die of exhaustion?”

“I mean, maybe?” you say. “What’re they serving for dinner today?”

He sighs. “Dunno. Hopefully something good, or else I’m just grabbing a piece of pizza.”

“You’re like Law,” you vaguely comment.

He stops for a second. “What?”

You pause as well, turning to face him. “You’re sighing a lot. Like Law.”

“I am not like Law,” he says, continuing on into the cafeteria. You follow after him.

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Are to---”

“Nope, not going through that again,” he interupts. You chuckle.

“That’s fair.” 

You grab a sandwich and Kid settles for pizza, despite him probably have eating it for the past week.

“Kid,” you say. “I know you probably don’t want to, but you should properly heal up. You were limping a tad.”

He freezes. “I was?”

“Yeah, did you get hurt in the leg?”

“Stabbed in the calf.”

You nearly spit your water out, but you quickly swallow. “What? Kid, you can’t just… that’s bad!”

“Apparently---I didn’t even know I was limping. How’d you tell?”

“You were a tad unbalanced. But that’s beside the point, Kid you need to tell Mr. Doflamingo or whoever that you can’t keep going.”

“But I can.”

“No, you can’t.”

“But I---”

“Nope. Not going through this again,” you quote. “But really, just get Law or someone to briefly treat it. Okay, I take back my words, not Law, I know you don’t like him. Maybe Sabo or someone, you know he’s pretty good at healing magic. Maybe he can just heal it up?”

He thinks for a second. “Fine.”

“We should go after we finish eating,” you comment. “So you have time to rest afterwards, apparently healing by magic can be pretty draining.”

He holds back a sigh. “You care too much.”

“No such thing.”

“There is, and you’re the literal definition of it.”

“Thanks, now hurry up and eat so we can get to Sabo’s.”

_______

Me? Update? Who am I pft


	15. 4.3

“There, it should be all healed up. You should be good to go for the tournament,” Sabo says, finishing up on Kid’s calf. “Thanks for coming to me, good to know I can be of help,” he adds sheepishly. 

You laugh. “No problem, thanks Sabo.”

Kid gets up to leave and glances back.

“I’ll be there in a second, you can head towards the dorm, I’ll be there soon,” you say. He grunts and heads out, and when you hear the door shut, you turn towards Sabo. 

“Did you need anything?” the blond asks.

“Kinda… I know I have healing magics class and all, but I was wondering if it’d be possible if you showed me how to do the stuff that you do? I want to be able to help them when they get hurt.”

He smiles. “You’re a good person. Sure, I’m free whenever. Did you want to go into the magic healing herbs too? I can show you about those, too.”

Your face lights up. “Would you?”

Sabo laughs. “Sure. Just let me know whenever, and I can teach you. But ya better go catch up with your roommate.”

“Oh, right! Thanks a million, Sabo,” you say, hugging him quickly before heading out. “See ya later!”

“Bye.”

You rush out of the building in time to catch a certain short-tempered redhead crossing campus. You run up to him and slow once you get to his side.

“Hey, how’re ya feeling?”

“Fine? What’d you have to do?”

“Just stuff. By the way, it’s already 6:30pm. We’d better get back to the dorm so you have time to rest,” you say. “Anyway, are you excited for the tournament?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Kinda. I don’t really know how to feel about it, since during teams, it’s all teams against each other. There are a lot of people here I really don’t wanna come across in any hostile way…”

He chuckles. “Yeah?”

“I mean, remember back to orientation? When Ace and Sabo fought? If I came across them in a battle, I think I might die of shock first… Even most everyone in our year is ridiculously strong.”

“Yeah, I think you’d die in two seconds if you faced anyone one on one.”

“Hey!”

He snorts. “You said it already.”

“Still. But you’re probably right… Plus, the fourth years? They’ve gotta be so strong… You know a bunch of the Charlotte family’s here.”

“I know, they’re pretty freakish. Plus the Four Emperors and the Seven Warlords,” he adds.

“The what-a-what now?”

“Seriously? You don’t know? The Four Emperors, only the strongest four guys here? They’ve got scouts looking at them, just waiting till they graduate to get them into their Final Training, and just as many scouts looking to put them into work straight outta High School!”

“Woah, really?” you gasp. “And the Seven Warlords?”

 

“They’re pretty much like the student council here, I guess? They represent certain groups. Doflamingo is---”

“Isn’t he the principal?”

“Technically? Do you just… not know anything about your own school?”

“I don’t pay attention.”

“Pft, wow. Good going. Well, there’s like a staff principal, that’ Rayleigh. He takes care of all the staff and construction parts of the school. The student principal makes most of the calls, though. That’s Doflamingo. He does all the rules and stuff.

“He’s got influence, so they made him student principal his third and fourth year. But once he’s out,” he says, smirking. “I wanna take over that, and basically run the school! But I’m not gonna be some stupid Warlord, I’m gonna be an Emperor.”

You smile at him, listening to his voice, and chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, really. It’s just nice to hear you speak so… enthusiastically about something. It’s refreshing to hear, I guess.”

“Shut up, we’re here. I’m gonna rest,” he says, opening the door and falling straight to his bed. Law’s sitting on his, and you wave to him.

“Hey, how’s it going?” You sit next to him, yawning.

He sighs. “Fine, I guess. Tired.”

“From the Grand Line?”

He sighs again, this one heavier. “That loudmouthed, red haired idiot.”

“Yeah. By the way, you’re kinda a doctor, right?” you ask, falling back onto his bed. He scoots back and sits against the wall.

“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘kinda a doctor,’ but sure.”

“What type are you? Magic or traditional?”

“Both, actually. What’s brought this up all of a sudden?”

“I… I wanna learn.”

He cocks an eyebrow and glances at you. “Why’s that?”

“Well, I mean, you can’t do healing magic on yourself, right? And… I dunno, I just wanna help out a bit and learn. It’s useful stuff to know, ya know?”

He chuckles. “You’re so weird. So you want me to teach you?”

You groan. “Yes, and I’m not weird. What’s weird about wanting to help?”

“Everything. Now get off my bed so I can rest.”

“Fine. Wait, so is that a yes?”

 

“Maybe.”

____

“(Y/N)-ya, wake up.”

“Get up before I kick your ass!”

“Shut up, Eustass-ya.”

“(Y/N).” Your body shakes, and you open your eyes. The unwanted brightness of day pours in, and you shut your eyes tight before slowly opening them again.

“Zoro? What’re you doing in my dorm?”

“We gotta go enter for the tournaments. It’s the 19th already.”

“Oh! I totally forgot!” You shoot up and rub your eyes. You slide out of bed, forgetting you’re on the top of a bunk bed. You let out a small, startled scream.

“You okay?”

You nod, the sudden panic right when you wake shaking you up a little. “Thanks, I owe ya one,” you say, trying to calm your frantic heart. “You can… put me down now.”

“Oh, sorry.” Zoro sets you down, and you thank him again. 

“You can get ready, if you want, and we can go enter and grab some lunch,” Law says. 

“Alright---lunch? Really? What time is it?”

“11:49,” he says. 

“Welp… in my defense, we didn’t have school yesterday or today, so I’ve been sleeping in. I’ll go get ready now, I’ll be done soon,” you say, grabbing some clothes and slipping into the restroom.

A warm shower later, you get dressed in comfortable clothing and step out of the restroom. “Ready.”

“Let’s go, then.”


	16. 5

How often should I update this book? Is it interesting enough that it should be like a weekly thing, or…?

_______

“This entire school is insane,” Nami mutters, sitting beside you at the cafeteria-style table anxiously.

“Definitely. I dunno how they even made this place!” you agree, thinking about the whole thing. 

Underground, so no weather can interfere, but fake skies that move and all. Not to mention how spacious it is. You took a peek at the stadium before you went into the waiting room, and frankly it was huge. Whatever type of magic made the place must’ve been extremely strong, you think, but she shakes her head.

“Didn’t you see the warnings? ‘Death, fatal injuries, and other wounds probable.’ Is that not an issue?”

You hum. “I mean, yeah. It’s kinda crazy, but then again, that was the same with the entrance exam, right?”

“Yeah, but… still.”

“Don’t worry so much,” Perona comments. “It’ll be fine, honestly. You worry too much.”

The ginger shoots her a sharp look. “I worry a reasonable amount. Right, (Y/N)?”

“Well,” you say awkwardly. “To be fair, it’s the least you can expect at a school like this.”

“You support this?!”

“No! I just admit I wasn’t not expecting something like this.”

Nami huffs. “Alright, whatever. Let’s just hope this thing starts soon.”

You smile. “Let’s just enjoy it and have fun with it,” you say.

The waiting room slowly fills more, and you find a lot of familiar faces. 

“(Y/N)!” Luffy calls excitedly, waving at you. 

“And the headache arrives,” Perona comments.

“Hey Luffy! Zoro, Sanji, good to see you guys again!” you greet. “It’s been a while.”

“(Y/N), we saw each other yesterday,” Zoro says. “It hasn’t been that long.” He chuckles. 

“It’s been around 24 hours,” you say. “That’s a lot of hours.”

“Aw, (Y/N) missed me so much!” Sanji says.

“Anyway, you’re pretty excited, huh Luffy?”

He nodded, smiling brightly. “It’s gonna be real exciting! I can’t wait to fight people!”

“He’s always like this,” Carrot says, chuckling a little bit.

“Yeah… Kid’s like that too, always itching for a fight,” you add.

Nami glances at you sympathetically. “Ah, right. You room with him.” She looks around to find where he and his group are, before lowering her voice a little. “He’s kind of scary, I feel bad for you!”

You giggle. “He’s not, really. Just a tad irritating when he always wants to fight with Law… Which is almost all the time… But it’s whatever. Sidenote, when is this supposed to start?”

“I dunno…” Carrot says, glancing at the others, who don’t know either.

“(Y/N)-ya,” Law greets stoically, sliding into a seat by you, along with Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo. 

“Hey! Excited?”

“You could call it that. You know, you get a good amount of prize money if you win, I’m mostly after that,” he says.

Nami’s attention is stolen. “Prize… money?”

“Half a million.”

You swear her eyes turn into the money sign as a grin grows on her face. “Alright, I’m pumped! I can’t wait to start, let’s win this thing!”

You laugh at her sudden change. “That’s nice and all, but I doubt it. We’ve gotta go into preliminary rounds and stuff first, then only one team from our school even gets chosen. I doubt us first years would be able to do it,” you point out.

Law shakes his head. “Not quite. The winning team picks more people to make a new team of 10. Perform well in the preliminaries and you’ll still have a chance. Issue is gonna be against World Gov. Academy,” he says. “We don’t really know their skills or Familiars or anything.”

“Oh, right… That’s gonna suck…” you say. “Ugh, this got stressful really quick, I’m thinking now about all the second, third, and fourth years.”

Perona sighs. “If the Seven Warlords are here, we’re gonna die. Plus, there are some pretty brutal upperclassmen.” 

“Seven… Warlords?” Carrot asks. “I’ve heard the name around, I think…”

“Oh, they’re some of the strongest students of our school,” you say. “They’re pretty much the closest you’re gonna get to a Student Council. They’re really strong, apparently.”

“We’re in pretty big trouble if they enter,” Perona agrees.

“I doubt it,” Law says. “Honestly, none of them are team players or anything. But if they did, they’d probably have a really strong makeshift team with themselves, then we’re absolutely dead.”

You sigh, resting your head on your arms, folded on the table. “This school is so odd… Why can’t we just have a normal Student Council with a normal system and normal students?”

Law chuckles. “We’re battling, possibly to the death, and Student Council is what you’re worried about? Don’t think so much, you’ll overheat.”

Your head shoots up. “Hey!”

“Looks like the fan just kicked in. C’mon, (Y/N)-ya. Let’s go get drinks from the vending machine,” he says, getting up from his seat. 

You laugh and follow the boy. “You brought money here?”

“Yeah, never know when you might need it,” he says.

“That sounds like some weird foreshadowing in some weird book,” you say, looking at the options. “Ooh, something cold sounds nice.”

“Looks like you really were overheating,” he says, smirking. “You’ll get a fever, you know. You’re quite warm,” he says with fake concern, feeling your forehead with the back of his second and third finger.

“Yeah? Well if I’m ‘quite warm’, you’re hot!”

“Why thank you. What would you like?”

You scowl at him, a light flush coming to your cheeks, your words coming out the exact way you didn’t want them to. You sigh, pointing at (Drink).

He inserts a dollar and hands you the drink before grabbing the change and getting some canned coffee. 

“How’s Heart?” you ask, sipping on the drink and sitting back down at the table.

“He’s fine, better than ever, really.”

You smile. “That’s great!” you exclaim, continuing to grin at the boy.

He lets out a small sigh. “Do you want to see him?”

“I do want to see him.”

He releases the snow leopard from his Seal in a small size, no larger than a puppy. The Familiar leaps around on the table, happy to see Law, before turning and bounding towards you. 

You awe at the little guy, petting his soft fur. 

“Okay, play time’s over,” he says quickly, patting Heart on the head before returning him to his Seal. You shoot him a sharp look. “We’re starting soon, anyway.”

“Oh, really?”

The lights in the room flicker, causing everyone---even Luffy---to quiet down. An announcement comes on through the speakers. A deep laugh, first. Doflamingo. “Students, welcome,” he says, “To the annual tournament’s preliminary rounds.”


	17. 5.1

Guys, the first part of the book is almost coming to a close! Around chapter 6-7 is where I expect it to end.

_______

A voice, not Doflamingo’s, that sounds like an automated one, comes on. ‘Here’s how the first preliminary round works. You and your group are put in an area separated from other groups. There will be an object you have to collect---you’ll be informed of it once you’re brought into the designated area.

‘The teams will split off into four groups of 19 teams. From each group, only the first five teams that retrieve the item and return to the beginning will move on to the next round. Group A will consist of  
Team 4: Vinsmoke Ichiji, Vinsmoke Niji, Vinsmoke Yonji, Vinsmoke Reiju.  
Team 11: Trafalgar Law, Penguin, Shachi, Bepo.  
Team 12: Eustass Kid, Killer, Heat, Wire.  
Team…’

You block out the noise until you hear your team number.

‘Team 58: (Y/N), Perona, Carrot, Nami.’

Nami sighs. “In the same group as those monsters,” she says.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll be fine,” you assure. 

The rest of the announcements are made, then Group A is sent out into the arena through separate rooms.

“Good luck,” you call to the other teams before stepping inside yours, where a metal door stands a few metres away, along with a wooden desk to the left with papers on it.

Another announcement comes through. ‘The information you need is on the desk. You have one minutes to review it. When the door opens, you may begin.’

You take the papers from the desk and sift through it. “We need to get a sea prism stone in the shape of a perfect cube, it’ll be about a meter wide,” you say, skimming over it. “Which means we should be prepared to fight near water.”

“I can use electrode,” Carrot chimes. “For the water. But it’ll be dangerous after that. So we should use it as a last resort.”

“Mhm. Let’s see what we have to defeat before making any solid plans, though,” you say. 

‘In 5,’ the automated announcer says. ‘4. 3.’ The four of you unSeal your familiars. ‘2. 1.’

The door slams open, and you run out first. 40-50 metres to the left and right of you, different terrains, probably belonging to the other teams, are bound to their own area with the transparent walls created for the viewers.

Ahead of you, a long lake that nearly took up the entire space. The ground was all solid rock, with only a couple rocks and boulders around. As the other teams barge through, fighting immediately the enemies that made themselves clear from the get-go, you slow your pace compared to them and bent down to pick a pebble up. 

“First…” You throw the rock into the water, and nothing happens for a few moments. The surface begins to uneven as whatever lurks beneath the surface of the water arises to see what’s disturbing its peace.

From three spots, heads burst through the water, then long necks, and then a glimpse of the body.

You breath heavily as the creature screeched out, saliva, poison, and water falling everywhere. “The hydra… Stay out of the way of its spit! It’s poison!”

The four of you back away, your minds racing a mile a second, trying to figure out what to do, but you can barely hear your own thoughts. 

“Okay, okay. How did Hercules defeat it in myths?” Nami yells over all the loud shrieks.

“I don’t remember! Something with… burning? We don’t have the option to do that right now!” you yell back. “Perona, can you use your Ghostly to get underwater to try to find the sea prism stone?”

She nods and activates part of her powers, floating through the water to begin searching. 

“Okay, it never said we have to defeat it, let’s distract it while Perona’s looking!” you say.

The other two nod in acknowledgement. Nami’s lightning bird grows larger, and she mounts it and is sent flying off above the hydra. She summoned lightning down just to harm the heads, avoiding any poison that’s spit out. Your ears hurt from all the high pitched screaming, but you shove it aside for the moment.

Carrot does similar as the ginger, mounting her electric wolverine and sending shocks towards the hydra.

Perona floats up. “I found it, but I can’t get it without deactivating my base powers!” she yells.

You clicked your tongue. “Alright, show me where it is, I’ll get it!” 

She stares at you, baffled. “Can you hold your breath that long?”

“‘Course I can! Let’s go!”

She nods and dives down, you following soon thereafter. The loud screams are muffled once your head hits the water. Amyr stays above, letting you know what’s happening.

The faint, pink glow of Perona’s Ghostly form is the only light you have, and even then, you have to squint hard to see. Small lights of mechanical fish, probably cameras, flash by, but they’re not bright enough for your eyes to see well. Your skin burns, the poison mixed in with the water, biting at you relentlessly. 

A stronger light comes into view, and Perona glances back at you to make sure you’re fine. You offer a small nod as you work to get over to the glowing. 

“It’s an air pocket,” she informs. 

You nod again and slip into the hollow space, catching your breath for a few seconds. 

“It’s back here.”

You follow her further into the small cavern where the giant cube of sea prism stone lies with rope already tied around it. 

“Will you be able to pick it up?”

You hum. “Yeah, it’ll be lighter once I get it into the water, anyway.”

It takes a lot of your strength to lift the cube and take it out of the small cave, tossing it into the water. Once you do, you take the end of the rope and dive back into the water. You can barely stay in place with the heavy material, let alone move forward.

You hold back a sigh, trying to conserve air, and nod slightly to Perona, who gives you an unsure look before leading the way back to the area.

Not only are you muscles screaming at you to stop, but your skin feels like it’s being ripped off and replaced with lemon juice. You wince, trying to close your eyes and see at the same time, your eyes burning even stronger than your skin.

You readjust the rope as you swim, wrapping it around your hands as you force your biceps to work harder, lugging up the giant cube. You can vaguely see the body of the hydra and try to make your way around it, as Perona leads, but you can’t last much longer and take the short way. 

As if it senses you, its tail lashes at your body, striking your back, sending the air out of your lungs in a heaved gasp. So desperate for air, you’re almost glad it hit you, because it launched you forward towards the edge. You wrap the rope around your body and used the cliffedge of the shore to keep you from sinking, climbing up with the last bit of energy you still have.

Your hand finds air again, and in a final moment of adrenaline, you force your body out of the water, lying down on the rock, gasping for air. The weight of the cube that pulls around your body is nearly numbed and normal, and the loud screaming of the hydra turns into white noise. 

You’re able to sit up, and Carrot’s familiar takes the cube from the water, pulling it up by the rope with its teeth while also disconnecting the weight from you. It crouches as Carrot and Perona can get the sea prism stone on its back before growing in size and power before bounding back to the beginning area, dropping it off.

Your mind vaguely processes the cheers and final announcements as you get up, shaking the water from your hair and trying to dry yourself.

“(Y/N)!” Nami called as the hydra retreated. “We got in!”

You tilted your head. “In?”

“We got in, we made it through the first round!” She went to hug you, but once she made contact, she quickly lets go. “Ouch... Are you okay? C’mon, let’s get you to a healer.”

 

You nod and smile a little. “Alright.”

_______

QOTD: What’s your favourite mythical creature and why?


	18. 5.2

You call back Amyr and tuck him into your Seal as you back inside with Nami, where Carrot and Perona are waiting. The four of you head into the infirmary as they reset the arena for WGMA’s Group A replacing items, terrains, and monsters with different ones.

Since you were completely submerged in the poison and were injured more, you’re sent to a different room than the other three, who were able to be healed quicker. You find a place between Law and Kid as you wait for a healer. 

“How’d you guys do?” 

“Haven’t heard the results yet?” Law asks, stretching a healed wrist as a healer moves on to his shoulder.

You shake your head. “I’ve kinda been not totally here, to be completely honest. A little dizzy and stuff.”

“I finished first,” Kid boasts with a smug smile.

You offer a small smile. “Congrats! I really wanna watch your guys’ rounds when they give us the tapes. What’d you guys have to fight?”

Law sighs as the healer finishes with his shoulder, and he stretches his shoulder. “Cthulhu. It was so exhausting, honestly. And we had to get some darkness orb. The thing was so hard to fight, I thought it’d be much easier,” he admits.

“Dragon, had to get its treasure,” Kid replies. “It was super protective and annoying,” he said, irritated. “But the treasure was gold and dragons have high iron levels in their blood, so with a little work it wasn’t all that difficult.” His healer bows slightly before moving on.

You shoot him a confused look. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Oh, my Special is magnetics. Iron’s a metal, so with a little extra effort it wasn’t too bad.”

“You have a Special?” You sigh. “Lucky, I don’t think I’ll ever get one.”

Law raises an eyebrow. “You don’t? I figured you of all people---”

“Anyway,” you interrupt. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Killer’s getting food, Wire’s on drinks, Heat’s grabbing seats in the exclusive area for our school’s participants. Did you need seats saved?”

“Sure! Thanks. Where’s Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo, though?”

 

“Getting healed in a different room,” Law mutters. “They got messed up pretty bad. Heart’s doing fine, though.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

A healer approaches you. “(Y/N), correct?”

You nod. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Alright, I need you to stay still as I heal your skin, is that alright?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

She works from your wrists and sent the magic to the rest of your body. As you heal, you slowly feel your energy depleting, but the burning on your skin fades away. She moves to your back, and the pain there eases as well. You hold back a sigh of relief as she finishes up, offering you some medicine with a glass of water.

“In case you’ve swallowed any poison, this will help. If something starts hurting again, please let us know.” 

“Thank you.”

Law glances at you. “You look exhausted.”

You hum, finishing swallowing another sip of water. “I feel exhausted. The pain is gone, but I’m still a little sore, and healing magic always drains me.”

“You must’ve mostly been healed by mass healers, then. They use patient’s energy instead of both their own and the patient. I guess we’re just more used to it,” Law says.

“Hey, wanna head up to the seats?” Kid asks, looking at his phone. “Turns out your friends are there, too.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll see you later, Law?”

He hums yes. “I’m going to go check on Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin.”

The exclusive area reminds you of a press box, but much bigger, and it’s got a perfect centre view of the screens. When you get there, it begun already and they’d been fighting for nearly ten minutes.

“(Y/N)!” Perona says, standing up in excitement. “Drake’s here! I mean, not here here, but look,” she says, pointing at one of the middle screens, showing what’s happening in the middle section.

A familiar ginger shuts his eyes tightly and blindly fends off an enraged basilisk that’s spewing poison from its giant jaws. A silver haired and pink haired boy run to grab its eggs. Its tail tries to attack it, and the pink haired boy blocks it. You’re not paying much attention to him, though, as you’re watching the screen showing Drake, whose badly injured, but manages to injury the serpent worse, paralyzing it for enough time for the pink haired boy to grab an egg. 

Kid looks at you from the side, clicking his tongue.

You don’t really listen to the announcer until his booming voice announces the first winner, stealing your attention. “Team 7, of Kaku, Lucci, and Jabra have completed first!”

Not a minute later, Drake’s team succeeds, the commentator announcing their finish.

“And Team 19, of Smoker, Koby, Helmeppo, and Drake!” 

Eager to go see him again, you excuse yourself and practically skip through the halls and down to the infirmary for WGMA.

“Drake?” you call as you enter, knowing he must already be in the infirmary since it took a while to get there, and he’s injured enough to need to be healed.

You catch a hint of spiky orange hair near the middle. Drake. He’s sitting and getting healed with his back turned to you. He’s with the same people in his group, you notice, and a healer’s nursing him back to health. A lopsided grin forms on your lips. You start towards Drake when a tall figure blocks your way.

“Er, can I help you, mister?” you ask awkwardly, looking up at the taller boy. He’s got black hair and a goatee, along with a top hat.

“You’re not from this school, are you supposed to be here?”

 

“Oh… I, I don’t know, I’m sorry, but I’ll be out real quickly, I just need to see someone,” you say.

He cocks an eyebrow. “Well, miss (L/N),” he says with a smirk. You swallow thickly and subconsciously direct your eyes to the ground. “Could it perhaps be one of your dear siblings? I can call them over---”

 

“Please don’t, I just need to see a friend, his name is Drake.”

“(Y/N),” a familiar, annoying voice calls. “Get out and stop bugging everyone,” your twin sister says before shifting her eyes to the boy. “I’m so very sorry, Lucci, pests don’t quite understand where they can’t go without bug spray.”

Your eyes shoot up, and you push aside the tiredness in your eyes and replace it with anger. 

“What’s this, little (Y/N) being defiant? Shall mother hear of this?”

Your body freezes, and suddenly running away, standing up to her, everything seems impossible. Your limbs refuse to do anything, and even your lips tremble as the thought of speaking.

“(Y/N)!” a familiar, comforting voice calls. “Get over here, Group B’s starting soon,” Kid says before shifting his eyes towards the two tormentors. He strides towards the scene, and throws a strong left hook straight into your sister’s jaw. He goes to shoot a sharp look at Lucci, but he’s already distanced himself with a slight smirk that pisses off Kid even more.

You’re supposed to feel bad for your sister, you know that already, but your lips betray you and form a small smile. You lift your head. “That’s enough, Kid… Thanks.”

Abandoning his rage for a moment, he shrugs. “Yeah, whatever, let’s get back,” he says, walking off.

You follow him slowly. “Wait, but Drake…”

“You have plenty of time to have your little reunion,” he says. “C’mon.”

“Right…” You catch up and trail just behind him back into the hall, but toss one last glance to Drake, who’s turned at that point to see what the commotion was all about. Your eyes meet his blue ones for a moment before the door shuts, dividing the two of you.


	19. 5.3

Day one flies by, and after the competitions end, you look for Drake and Koby, the pink haired boy you’d seen earlier fighting with Drake. 

“I couldn’t find them,” you say with a dejected sigh, walking beside Perona to the dorm building. “I’ll have to look for them tomorrow, I’ve been dying to talk to him again!” You continue ranting a bit until you get to your dorm.

Perona sends a small smile as you head in. “I wouldn’t worry about it, you’ve got all the time in the world.” 

“And by all the time in the world, do you mean 14 days?” Law asks from his bed.

“You don’t have to be such a pessimist…” Perona huffs. “I’m just trying to cheer (Y/N) up, jeez. Either way, I’ll come with you tomorrow to see if we can find him.”

You offer a lopsided grin. “Thanks, will do!”

“I should get going back to my dorm, I’ll see you later, (Y/N)!”

“See ya, Perona!” You wave goodbye and shut the door before sighing lightly and heading up to your bed, sitting against the wall. “I’m so tired… But I don’t wanna sleep.”

Law hums. “Something on your mind?”

“I guess… It’s kinda like my body’s really tired, but my brain isn’t. I don’t know, I just feel kinda murky and I don’t really know what to feel.”

He stays silent for a few moments before speaking up. “Do you… want to talk about it?”

You pause. “If you wouldn’t mind me talking your ear off.”

He stands and hops up to sit beside you. “Talk away.”

“It’s just… I guess I miss Drake. I don’t know why he left or stopped talking to me, or if I did something wrong. And I’ve been thinking about everything I said or did and if I did something wrong, he didn’t show any signs of it. I just want an explanation, I guess. And, well, today I saw my uh… I saw my twin sister,” you said, slowing near the end.

Law’s breath hitched. “(M/N) VI?”

You nod. “Yeah… did you ever meet her?”

“I did. I had to sit in during the conferences and all with them,” he confirmed. “But continue, please.”

“Yeah, alright. Well, I guess I forgot how much I dislike my family. I know they’re human too and have their struggles and all, just like me. But she’s just… she’s such a… Ugh, she’s just a nasty person!” you exclaim, tears threatening to spill from your eyes. 

“Woah, what’s this? (Y/N) name calling?” Kid says, walking in and taking off his shoes, closing and locking the door. “You okay?”

Law would love to glare at him and insult him, but he resists the temptation.

You sniff, looking down and wiping the tears that almost made their way out. “Am I a terrible person for saying that? About my own sister? But in my eyes, she really is!”

Kid scoffs. “That disgusting bitch from today? Nasty doesn’t even cover it.” He sits on his bed and tinkers with some metals, starting a new project. “You’re allowed to not like people, you know,” he adds quieter.

“I know… I know, but it’s just so unfair,” you mutter. “I know life isn’t equal, but it could at least be fair. I’m human, too, you know, the same as (M/N), and yet we have completely different boundaries. If I tried to do that to her…” you say, trailing off. Your voice turns cold and somber. “I don’t want to ever relive that.”

Law wraps an arm around you and pulls you into him, letting you cry into his chest. 

Your words come out in breaks, your sobs interrupting them every so often. “I’m sor—sorry I’m so, so sensitive li—like this. B—but thanks for being here and liste—listening to me… It means so much, you don’t even understand.”

Law rubs your back soothingly, and that and the energy it takes to cry like that for the first time in a while brings you to sleep.

____

You sit up and yawn, stretching your arms and legs before climbing down the ladder and resisting the temptation to lie on the floor and go back to sleep.

“Morning, (Y/N)-ya,” Law greets, drying off his hair from a shower. “How’d you sleep.”

You hum. “Fine, I guess. My eyes feel so dry, though. I guess that makes sense, though,” you say with a small yawn. “I’m gonna take a shower, I’ll see you in the waiting room?”

“Possibly. I’ve gotta finish some things up in the dorm, so I might still be here when you get out.”

“Alright, then.”

You set the water too hot and let steam gather for a while as you undress. You sigh, turn the water to a manageable temperature, and step in after checking with your hand. For a few moments, you let the water beat on your face, washing away the stiffness caused by your tears. 

Making sure not to take too long, you speed up the rest of your shower and get dressed before exiting the restroom. 

“Oh, hey Perona!” you greet with a smile, brushing away the knots in your damp hair.

“Since it’s still early, I figured we could go look for Drake before anything starts,” she says. “Trafalgar can come too, if he wants,” she adds, nodding towards the boy who was tidying up his stuff.

“I’d better be getting with my group,” he declines. “I’ll see you later, (Y/N)-ya, Perona-ya.”

“See you later, then.” You wave goodbye as he heads out. You set your (F/C) brush on the counter and start towards the door. “Let’s go look, then.”

____

Again, you couldn’t find Drake anywhere. You did, however, find Koby. The pink haired boy gained a lot of confidence since the first day, but he didn’t know where Drake was. He said he’d tell him you were looking, though, and you thanked him and moved on. 

Like last time, the instructions come on through a speaker. “Congratulations on making it to day 2,” it begins. “Today, we’ll have team battles. Only the winners will proceed to the next day, eliminating 10 of the teams. First of the day is Team 24: Marco, Thatch, Ace, and Sabo versus—”

You pick up the voice of a familiar freckled boy. “Hey, look who’s name got called first, _Sabo!_ You know what that means? I’m the maturer, olde—”

An older, probably third or fourth year, boy with blond hair slapped him upside the head. “Shut up-yoi, and it doesn’t mean anything. Let’s go.”

You laugh at the Ace, who’s rubbing his head but obliging with a small huff. Sabo snickers at his brother quietly and trails behind.

“Let’s go watch the fight,” you say to Perona, Nami, and Carrot. You gather in front of a large screen that shows the arena. 

It seems as quickly as the fight starts, it ends. Ace and Sabo’s team utterly demolishes the other without even having to bring out their Familiars. You find out quickly that each of them have a Special, Ace and Sabo’s conveniently being fire to match their Familiars, the blond—he’s Marco—has some type of blue flame, and Thatch—a brunet with a thuggish appearance—has some type of darkness Special. 

Looking at the aftermath on the other team, you feel sorry for the guys who got beaten up so badly, but they’re side characters so it’s not the absolute worst. As the arena is quickly fixed and reconstructed with magic from the boys’ dominating power, the next announcement comes on. 

“The next fight between WGMA teams is as follows: Team 38: Kalifa, Kumadori, Fukurou, and Blueno versus Team 19: X Drake, Smoker, Koby, and Helmeppo.”

_______

Small little thing here, WGMA (in my head at least) I pronounce it World Gov. M.A., not WGMA since that’s longer, which stands for World Government Mage Academy. And writing World Gov. M.A. would be a little annoying to read, in my opinion, so there’s that. 

Anyway, QOTD: Who’s your favourite/least favourite government worker/marine?


	20. 5.4 part 1

Drake’s fight is close, much to your surprise. Even though you don’t know the teams, you know how strong Drake is, and you’ve seen the abilities of his teammates. 

But they eventually win, leading into the next fight as the arena is fixed from their battle. 

‘The next fight is Team 58: (Y/N), Perona, Carrot, and Nami versus Team 19: Koala, Hack, Lindbergh, and Karasu.’

You look around for the team you’re facing against, keeping an eye out for others getting ready to enter the arena. You spot the group as you get in your own. 

A girl, maybe a second year, with short, orange hair, a short boy with a bunch of gadgets on his vest and a top hat, and two much taller boys, one wearing all black with some beak mask on and the other has light blue hair and spotty skin. 

“Hey.” You hum and turn for a moment, letting the three move on a little before you. “Good luck.”

You smile at the much taller boy. “Thanks, Kid. I’ll see you after I win!”

He snorts. “Don’t talk all big for your size.”

You laugh. “You’re just tall. See you later.” You wave and jog lightly to catch up with your team. 

You fiddle anxiously as you near the entrance to the arena. 

“Nervous?” Perona guesses.

“Just a little…” You chuckle sheepishly as you face the large gate. “And by a little, I mean a lot,” you add quietly.

The announcers voice comes on, starting out with introducing the opposing team. They walk out into the arena on the opposite end, and a few seconds later, the gate in front of you lifts. 

“Facing Team 58!” You block out his loud voice as you focus on taking deep breaths and strategising. You let Amyr out and he finds a place hidden in your hair on your shoulder. 

Perona taps you on the shoulder, bringing you back to the present. You blink a few times, and she mutters a small plan in your ear. You glance towards Nami and Carrot, who smile and nod.

You return with a lopsided grin as the announcer counts down. 

“Fight!”

Nami’s lightning bird shoots out of her seal and flies high, collecting storm clouds, darkening the arena and showering the main arena with heavy rain, making sure to avoid the stands.

One of the opponents, the one in all black, sends out his giant crow familiar to the sky, which bursts into a bunch of smaller ones to attack Nami’s familiar. 

Perona grabs you, Nami, and Carrot, giving all of you ghostly properties for a moment as Penga, Nami’s familiar, cracks down harsh lightning, destroying the base of the arena in blinding strikes. 

“I can’t support for any longer!” Perona yells, and the lightning comes to a quick halt, and the clouds and rain disperses as Nami tucks away her familiar. 

Your partial transparency and inability to make contact with anything fades away, and you nearly fall with the sudden weight on your legs. You blink a few times before looking to the other side, which is empty. 

“Above!” Carrot alerts.

The four were able to get away from the lightning through the crow familiar, but not unscathed. Two are passed out, the girl and short boy, and the others look close to meeting the same fate. 

Shakily, they come down, placing the two unconscious bodies aside as the blue haired one gets ready to punch, although he’s far away.

You bite your lip, unsure of what he’s planning. “Carrot, can you see if you can direct an electric current— nevermind, this is a bad idea.”

She tilts her head. “What’s up?”

“Well, if you can send an electric current to the exact right spot, they’ll pass out. It’s similar to hitting someone on the back of the neck, but you can do it from a distance. But it’s really precise, you could seriously injure him if it hits wrong.”

She blinks. “What if you mark where it’s supposed to go? Intershift with Amyr and have Perona make you invisible, and go mark it!”

You glance over to the boy in all black as he kneels, summoning a frightening amount of small crows that form into a giant, black figure. “I don’t even know if we have enough time, not to mention I can’t even Intersh—”

“Let’s do it!” Perona says. “I’m a little tired… But I think I’ll be fine!”

You bite your lip and take one last look. Nami’s trying to attack the boy in black, but his crows keep protecting him. 

“I’ll go distract him!” Carrot says, without waiting for your answer, and bounding towards the other boy and has her familiar bite at him as she zaps him.

You take a deep breath before letting Amyr fly out and face you. You close your eyes and block out the sounds of electricity from Nami and Carrot, the sounds of masses of flapping wings, the sounds of booing from the crowds because the fight is slow. 

You let yourself become wrapped in a secure darkness before reaching out to Amyr in a mental link, trying to hurry but also to succeed. 

_If you’re going to ever work… Now would be the time!_

You felt your body dissipate, and you sharply open your eyes. It takes a few moments, but you get used to having wings in a small, feathery body. You look to Perona, who’s smiling, and brings out Pik to help. She nods to you, and you fly as fast as you can, faltering every few flaps, towards the blue haired boy Carrot’s trying to distract. 

Her much smaller body is easily hit to the ground, but she gets back up and only moves around faster. You weave between her and the boy’s attacks to try to get to the back of his upper neck. Awkwardly trying to find a way to mark the area, you bite the part of the neck, and a redness immediately shows on his paler, yellower skin.

You fly past Carrot quickly and slightly brush your—Amyr’s—wing against her arm. She smiles and nods with a determined huff. She bounds back a few metres before shooting an electric current out, curving around. She has her wolverine stationed at the back, and she closes her eyes as she shifts her senses into his for a moment and finds the red mark before striking it.

You watch in anticipation, and for a second, he rubs the back of his neck like nothing happened before dropping. Relief floods in.

Pik invades your view for a moment, and you let your eyes trail him. Perona’s sitting on the floor, exasperated, and Nami’s backing up from the swarm of crows. You gasp, and you find yourself falling to the ground. You get up and try to fly, only to find you’re back in your normal body, without wings. 

You frantically scramble up and search for something you can do to help as you tuck away Amyr, but you can’t help but continue staring at the crows before realising what’s happening. You swallow before deciding quickly. 

“Carrot,” you shout, grabbing her attention. You try to get to her, but your body is too fatigued from Intershifting for the first time. She understands and goes to you. “That small crow in the back behind him, do you see it?” you ask, discretely gesturing towards what you’re talking about it. She nods. “That’s what’s producing all the larger ones, if we can take that one out,” you start.

“Then the rest will disappear?” she finishes.

“Hopefully, do you think Volt can get it?”

She hums yes and explains through bonds to her familiar. It nods and shrinks in size to sneak around it as you and Carrot go to Nami. As the crows continue to shape into a larger, shadowy figure, their heads nearly snap in the direction of Carrot’s familiar. In a moment of fear and impulse run on adrenaline, you charge the boy and shove him with all your force.

Even with your entire body weight and strength, he barely topples over, redirecting the crows’ attention. Some band together while others look to attack you, threatening disbanding the odd creature in the makings. The boy throws you off as Volt reaches the small crow and bites down onto it, and it grows limp. 

The crows collectively shrink and form into a normal sized one, and the boy glances at his unconscious teammates and familiar before falling, passing out himself.

You stand up awkwardly, tilting your head.

“We did it!” Carrot says cheerily, smiling brightly and pouncing on you in a hug, and you just about fall over if not for Nami supporting you.

“We did?”

“I know you said it was dangerous, but I went for the same thing we did before. And it worked, we did it!”

_______

This one was kinda messy, apologies for that. Anyway, QOTD: What’s your favourite fight in all of One Piece and why?


	21. 5.4 part 2

School starts in less than a month… I’m already nervous…

_______

You smile, a little absentmindedly. “That’s great! I’m glad!”

You block out the announcer the best you can, the loud voice worsening an aching head. “I’ve got a killer headache, and you guys look tired. Let’s head to the infirmary.”

They nod. The infirmary trip is short. You’re healed briefly, but the nurses explain that since much of the fight was using energy, the best cure would be getting extra sleep and resting. Regrettably, you head back to your dorm and miss watching the fights live to take a nap.

You wake later at around 4:00pm and decide to spend some time in the cafeteria, looking out for Drake out of the corner of your eye as you watch the recorded fights on your phone. You sit in the secluded part of the cafeteria with a nice view of the entire building. 

Keeping an eye on the door, you don’t find Drake at 5:45. Maybe he went into town to eat with his friends or something. You’re nearly done watching the fights and looking at others’ powers, at least, and you decide maybe you should actually grab something to eat.

You let a small sigh pass as you grab some food and returning to your spot. A few minutes pass, and you’ve only taken a few bites. Your appetite isn’t too strong, and you spin your fork in your food as the last fight finishes, with the rainbow group from science and hand-to-hand combat wins against some Charlotte family members, none of which you have any recollection of.

You catch the door opening from the corner of your eye. You can’t see the best over the heads of everyone, but you do catch spiky, orange hair. You pocket your phone and earbuds before making your way through the building towards Drake.

“(Y/N).”

You turn for a moment, finding Kid, Killer, Heat and Wire sitting and eating. “Oh, hey, I’ll talk in a second,” you say, waving before walking off, finding Drake right by the table, his back turned to you.

You tap the much taller boy on his shoulder. “Hey, Drake!” you greet, grinning widely. His eyes flicker down to you. “It’s been forever, how’ve you been? Did you break your phone or something?”

He turns around and cocks an eyebrow as he types away on his phone. 

“Sorry, who are you?” he asks, glancing behind you before returning his eyes to you.

You force a laugh. “Hah! Good one, you’re kidding, right?”

He shrugs. “Oh, (Y/N)? You were my roommate.”

Your shoulders droop, and you avert your eyes downwards. Maybe you two weren’t as close as you thought. “I—Yeah… Sorry to bother, it’s good to see you again,” you mumble. 

He returns to texting, and you step back awkwardly, heading back to Kid’s table, before he calls you. “(Y/N), wait just a second,” he says quietly. He tilts his phone down a little.

You get the hint and check what it says, taking a few moments longer than usual to read upside down. ‘Meet me in the library at 8 tonight. Don’t tell anyone. I’ve got some explaining to do, don’t I? It’s good to see you again.’

You look back up at him, and he smiles softly. You nod slightly before waving and returning to Kid’s table.

“What’re you all smiley about?”

“Did you see my fight today?” you ask, excitedly. 

“Mhm, congratulations,” Killer says, taking a few sips through his straw.

“Yeah, I Intershifted for the first time! That’s why I’m so happy!” you lie. “Drake congratulated me.”

“That was the first time?” Heat asks. 

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve been trained to do it and stuff, I was just never able to before. Excuse me for a second while I grab my food.”

You return soon with your food, catching Drake’s eyes for a second and offering a small smile before sitting back down with Kid’s group and chatting for a while.

It’s pushing 6:30 when you and Kid reach your dorm. Law isn’t there, and you climb back up to your bed and sigh. Kid sits on the floor and tinkers with something. Leaning on the railing, you watch him work for a few minutes.

“What’s the project this time?”

He glances up for a brief second. “Nothing.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing to me. Is that a flower? It’s pretty—”

He tosses it on the floor, and on contact, spikes shoot out.

“Deadly. Pretty deadly,” you correct. 

The door clicks open and Law enters, lightly shutting it behind him as he slips his shoes off.so

“Congratulations,” Law says. “You did well today, (Y/N).”

“Thanks! You too, and I’m glad Heart is back up and fighting again.”

You talk for nearly an hour. “Hey, I’ve gotta go to the library. I’ll be back in a bit,” you say. “Do you guys need any books dropped off?”

“Actually, yes, if you would,” Law says, handing you a book. “Thank you.”

“No problem. See ya guys later.” 

It’s dim outside, and the moon is already out. The library is mostly barren, aside from a few people studying scattered around the tables. You drop off Law’s book in the book return chute before looking around for Drake. Already a few past 8, he’s not on the first floor, and you decide to head up to the second. 

“Drake?” you call quietly. 

“Over here,” he responds. “Hold on, I’ll be there in a second.” You hear distant shuffling, and in a minute, you see the boy.

He offers a lopsided smile. “Hey, good to see you. C’mere, I wanna show you something.”

“I—Yeah, good to see you, too. What’s up?” you say, following him to the corner of the library.

“Sorry I couldn’t talk earlier, and I’m sorry for not taking any calls or texts. And for transferring schools without telling you why.”

“I forgive you, but are you okay?”

He pauses for a moment, and you almost walk into him. He turns slightly and glances down at you. “Thanks, I’m fine. Check this out, though.” He grabs a book off the shelf and places it in an empty spot on another before pulling another slightly.

You hear a small click, and he pulls out a shelf. 

“Welcome to my humble abode,” he says, bowing in front of a place that looks a lot like a dorm, but much larger. A warm light floods the room, and you enter.

It feels homey, and you look around. “This is so cool… How’d you find this?”

“There were clues around the library. I came here a lot before I switched schools. Can I get you anything?” he says, closing the huge door behind him.

You smile and let a small huff of amusement. “Seriously?”

He moves a large painting, revealing a kitchen. “Seriously. Here, want a soda?” He opens the fridge and tosses you your favourite type.

“Thanks! This is… seriously cool, though.” You pop open the can and take a sip.

“Isn’t it? Anyway, I need to explain,” he says, taking a seat on the couch.

“Hm? Don’t worry about it, I already forgave you.”

He looks at you uneasily. “I know, but I need to warn you about some people.”

_______

QOTD: Who’s your favourite and least favourite Supernova?


	22. 5.5

If you’re at all interested, I’m starting up with an original series kinda. I’ll probably eventually transfer it to just writing, but for now it’s in the form of a comic! Here’s the link if you wanna read the first part. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz6rJoIAeD2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 

_______

You force a dry laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

He looks at you, almost pitifully. “If only. And… I hope you know I really wasn’t the only one.”

You swallow. “Koby.”

He nods.

“Why? There’s no reason, I… I don’t get it!” Your breaths become shallower. 

He rests a hand on your shoulder. “Hey, get some rest, alright? It’s been a long day.”

You nod, the bubble in your throat seemingly preventing you from speaking. You begin to head out, Drake opening the door again.

“And (Y/N)?”

You turn.

He sighs softly before shaking his head. “Nothing, I’ll see you later.”

You smile and nod. “Yeah, see you.”

Thousands of thoughts buzzing through your mind, you trudge back to the dorms. Kid is still tampering with metal pieces and Law is reading when you return. 

“Hey,” you greet, slipping off your shoes.

“What took so long?” Law asks, sliding a bookmark between the pages and setting the book down.

“I started a book, thinking I’d like it, but turned out to be pretty bad,” you say, climbing up to your bed and sighing. “It had a good plot and world at first, and it was really cool, but the more I read, the more I realised it was a bad book.”

He hums. “I hate when that happens. What was wrong with it?”

You groan, thinking more about the conversation previously rather than the current one. “The characters. I think I’m gonna go to sleep early, I’m tired.”

“Night,” Law says, turning off the main light, and Kid turns on a smaller one as he works on his projects.

____

You make sure to wake up a little earlier to catch Kid, since he tends to wake earlier than you. Up before him for once, you get ready for the day. 

“Morning, Kid,” you say cheerily.

He groans as he sits up before falling back down. In another minute, he gets up and stretches. 

You snort. “Hey, get dressed and ready, I wanna talk with you.”

He scowls at you.

“Please?”

Continuing to scowl at you, he grabs clothes for the day and heads into the restroom to shower and get dressed. You smile and kick back until he finishes his morning routine.

“What do you want?” he asks sharply, slipping on a white shirt.

“To talk. C’mon, let’s go to town for breakfast,” you suggest.

He shrugs. “Sure.”

Grabbing a taxi down to the town, you end up eating at a half-filled Waffle House. 

“So what’s up?”

You take a deep breath, suddenly regretting your decision, but deciding you should go through with it. “Kid, I know what happened with Drake.”

He freezes for a split second. “Which is?”

“I… Please don’t make me say it, Kid.”

“No, if you’ve got the fucking guts to drag me out here to talk about this shit, you’re gonna say it,” he hisses.

“I know that you made Drake leave. I know you threatened him,” you say quietly, tucking your shoulders in, trying to make yourself as small as you feel. Maybe you can shrink out of existence.

“And what of it?” 

“I… This was a bad idea, can we please take this somewhere else?”

He slams a twenty down on the table and pulls you outside by the wrist. “And. What. Of it?” he repeats, still pulling you along the sidewalk.

You try to pull your wrist free, but he just tightens his grip and opts to practically drag you into an alleyway. 

“I just want an explanation!” you blurt. “Why? What’d he ever do to you? You blackmailed him and bullied him, and you did the same to Koby, didn’t you? Why? I need a reason, you’re not a bad person, so—”

“Maybe there’s the misunderstanding,” 

You pause. “What’s that supposed to mean? You think you’re a bad person?”

He scoffs. “Maybe, but it’s not like I’m the only one.”

“I… I know you’ve been to jail, haven’t you?”

“Again, I’m not the only one,” he snaps. “Your good friend Drake? He grew up helping kill people! Not much different with that Trafalgar shit!”

“Kid,” you say.

“Speaking of, he’s killed hundreds! You know his amazing little feat of curing that disease? Only after fucking murdering a hundred people, carving their hearts out, and offering it to the government to fuck with and study so he was permitted to work on the cure!”

“Kid,” you say, raising your voice as much as you can without it cracking.

“Drake? He grew up in the Grand Line, bet you didn’t know that. You know why we’re so okay with going there, by the way? Because we’ve been there before, too. And we’ve seen the legacy he’s left, let me tell you how many he killed just as, what, a fucking 10 year old?”

“Kid!” you yell, forcing back tears. 

“I’m not the best person, but have you fucking seen _them_?” he finishes with a wicked smile.

“They wouldn’t have ever killed anyone,” you defend quietly before pausing. “ _You_ wouldn’t have ever killed anyone either,” you add. “Right?”

“Whether you like it or not, that’s reality.”

“You say it like it’s just that easy, that they killed people.”

“Because it’s fact,” he says simply, leaning against the wall.

“It’s not something to be taken lightly, Kid. Those are actual people. If someone killed my friends, I don’t know what I’d do…”

“Good thing your friends are the killers, huh?”

You look down. “Who else? Killed someone, at least that you know of?”

He laughs. “I don’t think you want me to answer that, but I will anyway. Strawhat and his entire little gang? All of them.” 

He pushes off the wall and takes a step towards you.

“That pink haired chick you hangout with? Yeah, her.”

He takes another step towards you, looming over your much smaller figure.

“We’ve all been in the Grand Line. And we’ve all killed.”

You shake your head and look into his glimmering eyes. “No, no! Then why were you and Law so exhausted after being in the Grand Line? You’re lying!” you insist, but the look in his eyes tells you that no, he isn’t.

He scoffs. “Doing work in that place for 8 hours straight is a lot different than doing whatever the hell I want.”

You step back and avert your eyes from him.

He shoves his hands in his pockets and exits the alleyway. Glancing back, he sighs. “Fuck, I wish I were sorry. Get used to it or don’t, but believe me, if you choose the latter, you’re gonna suffer a whole lot.”

 

Part 1 of Unfamiliar : Finished  
Date of start of Part 2 : 30 July

_______

What’s this? An early week update? Foreign concept in this household. 

Note: I’m splitting the book into parts based upon character development/placement, relationship development/placement, and emotional arcs instead of story arcs, because if it were based off of story arcs, then the end of Part 1 would’ve been after the tournament.

QOTD: Does the world so far make sense/Any questions on how the magic works? (Or if you have any feedback at all that’d be great :D)


	23. 6

Part 2: Begins now

I apologise for being late. I’ve been so fatigued for no reason, and it’s been weird. Even walking has been a huge task, like something’s weighing me down making me want to just collapse and sleep, and I couldn’t watch a simple video without it taking away a lot of my energy, so you can imagine how crazily tiring it was to write. Honestly, it’s about the same right now, but I’ve gotta get better, so apologies in advance if this one isn’t the best.

_______

You pretended like everything was still normal. Like you didn’t learn what you did. Or at least like you were okay with it.

 

It wasn’t still normal, and you weren’t okay with it. 

You couldn’t just ignore them, you couldn’t be alone. You weren’t sure how it would affect them, either. You were glad that they hadn’t noticed, though. The next round in the tournament, you were up against Kid’s team and obviously lost. 

“(Y/N)! You okay?” Nami says frantically, rushing to help you up. “You took a beating! What a jerk, he totally went overkill with you.”

You suppose you can feel the throbbing in your head and the twistedness of your out-of-place joints. It feels numb, though. You give a smile with no emotions behind it. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine once I get it fixed up.”

“Are you sure? You look a little… out of it,” Perona says, managing to get on her own two feet with Carrot’s help.

“I’m sure, only a little bummed we lost. We had a really good run, all things considered!” you assure. “How are you guys?”

Your eyes wander as you ask, locking eyes with a frowning redhead. Their words and slight complaints reach your ears but are blocked out, not able to get to your mind to be processed and understood. Only muffled noises. 

Any clarification in their words was transferred to a loud, high pitched ringing noise. It circled in your head, like a marble spinning in the inside of your skull. Kid’s ruby eyes stared at you from the side. He narrowed his eyes, drifting slightly from side to side.

Your thoughts drift, wondering why he’s looking around, before realising that you’re slightly swaying. Your stomach feels unsettled, and his glaring, almost cynical eyes gain faded duplicates as you let the voices seep back in.

“(Y/N)! C’mon, let’s get you to the infirmary!”

“(Y/N), are you alright?”

“Snap out of it, c’mon, we gotta get you to the infirmary!”

You hear the words clearly, but your brain fails to understand, fails to deal with anything else, and shuts off.

____

“(Y/N)-ya, thank the lord you’re awake.”

You glance to your side where Law is as you shuffle in the bed. He helps you sit up. You’re in a small room, the large window next to you bringing in dusk’s faint light, it being enough to brighten the nearly all white area. 

Sabo’s next to Law, and Perona, Carrot, and Nami are sitting in chairs behind the two doctors. Leaning against the counter on the other side of the room by the three is Kid, and against the other counter near the foot of your bed, Drake. 

“Sorry to put you through all this trouble,” you mutter, flipping the sheets up to get out of bed.

Law places a hand on your leg. “Rest a while. You’re probably not used to fighting this much everyday, anyway. It’ll do you good.”

You blink, needing a second to listen to his words. Debating what to do mentally, you weigh your options. In there, at least you’ll be able to be alone, whereas at your dorm, you’ll have Kid and Law breathing on your neck. At first glance, which is all you can really afford, given the back of your head near your neck firing up in pain and the front of your head constantly pulsing. 

You start nodding before stopping immediately and trying to get your head back up with a sharp tug.

You groan slightly, the sound only hurting your head more.

“(Y/N), are you alright?” Sabo asks quietly, wary of your state. “Do you need a painkiller?”

“That’d be nice, thank you,” you murmur. Law nods and grabs a white bottle and opens it, shaking two small red pills into his palm. He grabs a water bottle from a mini fridge and offers it.

“Thanks.” You manage to take the two pills before slowly lying back down, trying not to move to brashly. “I just… want to sleep.”

“(Y/N)-ya, you also need to eat. I’ll grab you something, but you need to stay awake for a while. It’s fine if you want to lightly rest, though.”

You suppress a groan. “Alright. Can I at least have some privacy?”

“We still don’t know _exactly_ what happened. It’d be best to have someone around in case anything happens,” Sabo says.

“I’ll stay here,” Kid says with a small shrug.

“It’s fine, I got it,” Drake says. 

“Don’t you have to be back at your dorm soon? Since you’re only visiting, and you don’t go to this school,” Kid says. 

Law clicks his tongue. “It doesn’t matter, let’s just try to give her some quiet,” he says, heading out. “(Y/N)-ya, what would you like?”

Frankly, you have no appetite, but you know he won’t take that for an answer. “Anything that won’t upset my stomach would be fine,” you say.

He nods and files out, Sabo and Drake behind him, the latter throwing a small glare at Kid. 

Perona stands with a small huff. “I’m really sorry this all happened. Hope you feel better soon, (Y/N).” 

Nami follows suit, standing and heading for the door, Carrot joining soon after, mentioning the same things a few more times.

“Thanks, you guys. I’ll see you later,” you say. They shut the door, and you let your head sink a little deeper into the fluffed pillow. You try to ignore Kid’s gaze boring into you. “Did you need something?”

He clicks his tongue and sits at the foot of your bed with a small grumble, scooting back so his back is against the wall. He brings a foot up and rests his elbow on his knee. “Let me just get this out of the way first. I don’t care what you think or if you’re fine or not.” 

You hesitate. “Oh...kay?”

“But I’m still me. And that fucking… _Trafalgar,_ ” he says, trying not to spit out the name, “Is still him. Just ‘cause you know a few more things doesn’t mean we’ve changed.” His eyes shift around the room to anywhere but you.

You let out a quiet, “Thanks,” understanding well what he means. 

“And by the way, I’m not sorry for how much I hurt you. I don’t care, like I said… But you’re okay, right? It’s just your head hurting now?”

You can feel the edges of your lips forcing their way up as Kid turns his head, red practically glowing on the tips of his ears. “Yeah,” you say softly. “It’s just my head.”

“Good, ‘cause that’s the only thing they couldn’t figure out. It’s not supposed to be physical damage, but mental damage. Or whatever. I didn’t care, I wasn’t listening.”

“Of course.”

The two of you coexist in silence for a while. A peaceful silence, like things really are okay, and things are coming to even terms. Your careful voice barely breaks the quiet. 

“I tried…” 

You pause, and Kid glances over for a second before returning his eyes to the wall in front of him. 

“I tried to make you guys good people. Really hard,” you say, so quiet your voice splits into silence every little while. “I know you guys are still you… But that doesn’t change that---” you swallow--- “you _killed_ people. And I’m all about change. But…” 

You sigh. “There’s been no change, has there?” Your eyes flicker around the ceiling, and you close your eyes, trying to trap the tears. “You’re murderers,” you whisper, the salty water flooding your eyes and slipping out.

You hear him let out a throaty sigh, almost a growl, and you slowly open your eyes. His hand is over his face, and he sighs again. 

“Has anyone ever told you that you shoulda gone to WGMA?”

You blink, some part of your memory sparking, but your head’s pounding doesn’t allow you to remember clearly. But you hum ‘yes’ anyway.

“Maybe that wouldn’t have been the worst. To be completely honest, I have no clue why you even got into this school.”

“Why?”

“They do background checks, you know. You should’ve been in WGMA, don’t your siblings go there too? Your only allowed in this school if you’ve killed someone.”

You swallow. Your head feels like it’s shaking, and you try to sit up. It only makes you feel lightheaded, and you throw the covers off your legs, your body too hot to withstand anymore heat. You nearly fall back onto the bed, but you manage to stay upright.

“I couldn’t… I wouldn’t ever. I’ve never. I haven’t, I wouldn’t,” you mumble, words fading into each other.

“Yeah. I know. That’s why I’m wondering what the hell you’ve done. Because most of the One Piece grads go straight to the Grand Line as criminals. And all of the enrolled students are already criminals in some respect. Of course, there’s no actual law in the Grand Line, that’s why a lot of us have already been there,” he trails.

“I wouldn’t have, it wasn’t me.”

His breath catches for a second and he looks at you, his interest piqued. “Wait, what was that?”

Your head feels like it has fifty times the pressure it should have. Your tears grow thicker, and despite you being hot enough to be covered in a thin layer of sweat, you’re shivering, unable to stop it. 

Your vision grows black, but you’re eyes are open, and you’re conscious. Kid’s voice comes like an echo from a distance in a giant, hollow cave.

“(Y/N)? Shit, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you say, but you don’t hear your own voice. “I need to sleep.”

“Woah, woah woah. Hey, stay awake for a bit more, Trafalgar should be here soon,” he urges, trying to stop you from lying down.

“Fine!” you snap, your own sudden loudness making your head spin even more. You don’t quite know what you’re doing, but out of spite you stand up, stumbling blindly around the room.

“Don’t _stand_ either. Hold on, already.” He stops you from getting to the door with an arm, pulling you into him to get you to stop squirming and moving around. 

You try to attack him and bang at his chest before your consciousness leaves you.


	24. 6.1

God… It’s only been 4 days of school and I’m already sick of it.

_______

You wake to familiar bickering, the sound being so routine, you reach over for your phone you always set on a small shelf at night before remembering you’re not in your room. 

Noticing movement, the boys stop and turn their attention to you. 

You force yourself to sit up and open your eyes, grunting softly. “I don’t… How long was I asleep? I remember waking up briefly and everyone was here before I fell back asleep.”

“3 days. It’s the 25th.”

You blink. “Already? Today’s the final battle, isn’t it?”

Law nods. “Are you alright? Any headaches?”

You shake your head. “I feel perfectly fine, why? I don’t think I got that hurt during the fight.”

 

Kid and Law share a look and nod. “Later,” he says. “For now, let’s get you up and out of this room.”

You hesitate. “Oh...kay?”

Law carefully removed the IV and placed a small bandage where the needle was. He handed you a small stack of neatly folded clothes. “Here, you should change and we can go grab something to eat and talk, alright?”

“Law, you’re acting strange,” you say. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Go change in the bathroom,” he says, nodding towards the door. “We’ll be waiting.”

You sigh softly. “Fine.” You hear murmurings through the door, and you know something’s up. Even if they were previously bickering, they’re getting along way too well. You pause before opening the door again. 

“I’m ready.”

“Right, let’s go then,” Law says, Kid shoving his hands in his pocket, oddly quiet. “Everyone else is in the cafeteria right now, they’ll be excited to see you up.”

You follow them out of the hospital, the silence only fueling your uneasiness. 

“Guys, did something else happen that you aren’t telling me about?”

Law’s phone rings, and from behind him you catch who’s calling: Sabo. You didn’t know they knew each other well enough to have exchange numbers. You shrug and awkwardly listen to the one side of the conversation.

“Yeah, it’s fine. What’d you find?” He pauses for a few seconds. “I see… We’re heading to the cafeteria now, bring him there if you can… Yeah, everyone’s there… Good, bring that too… Yeah keep it hidden for a bit… Right, see you then.”

He hangs up, and you quicken your pace slightly to walk beside him. “Keep what hidden? What’s up?” you ask.

“Not much, we’ll explain soon. Don’t worry about it,” he says.

You enter the cafeteria and head to a large table where a lot of your friends are waiting. 

Perona, Nami, Carrot, Drake, Heat, Wire, Killer, Ace, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji.

You swallow and take a seat by Nami, Law taking one on the other side of you. 

“(Y/N)! It’s so good to see you up, how are you feeling?” Nami asks with a smile. Similar questions and excited comments ripple through the table, and you manage a soft smile.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I’m just… kinda lost.”

“(Y/N)-ya… In your own time, you have things you need to explain.”

You tilt your head. “What things?”

Kid sighs, and for the first time speaks up and explains what happened. You bite your lip, getting the feeling that the irritation in his voice is little more than a facade for worry. 

“I have to go,” you mutter, standing and ignoring the cries and ‘wait’s from your friends. “I’m sorry…”

Kid clicks his tongue. “If she wants to keep running away, let her.” He stands as well and heads out, brushing shoulders not so gently with you on the way. 

Awkwardly, you follow. Eventually, you catch up naturally and tap him on the shoulder. “Kid?”

He hums, barely minding you and not stopping to talk.

“Do you not like being around me anymore?”

He pauses for a brief moment before turning courses away, towards the exit of the school boundaries. 

“Kid?” You have to half-jog to keep up with him. “Is something wrong?”

He scoffs and stops abruptly at the edge of boundaries, where the large gate in and out stands. “I don’t know, is there? Aren’t you fucking _terrified_ your friends are all murderers?”

You back up instinctively as he leans down with a slightly sadistic grin. 

“I… I’m not terrified, per se,” you say, trying to offer an answer that’ll satisfy him, sure, but mainly yourself. 

He let a condemning huff of amusement as he stood tall and ran a hand through his fiery hair. “But you’re pretty fuckn’ indecisive about it all, huh. Just drop and call it a day,” he sneered.

He headed towards the smaller gate off to the side for students. 

“You know,” you start as he pulls it open, “you don’t have to push me away. Do you think I won’t end up accepting you guys?”

He hesitates before ignoring you and heading off.

____

Wishing you hadn’t left the cafeteria before at least eating something, you find yourself in the city as it grows dark, looking for a place to eat. It’s nearly 9, and most places are starting to close up. You manage to grab a quick (but rather unhealthy) meal from (Place). 

You sigh, heading back in the relative direction of the school, an uneasiness sinking and resting in the pit of the stomach. You can only hope it’s the food. Bars are the only things left open, one every few blocks with music and chatter audible from outside. 

The light from inside gives them a certain glow that lights up a few metres around it, but what catches your eye is the uncanny black and blue glowing that looks like it’s moving and shifting. 

It’s coming from an alleyway, and all those movies you watched previously tell you to book it. But you’re too curious, like every horror movie protagonist, and you turn into the alley anyway. 

You swallow as a giant, glowing swirl of blue and black. It looks like a cloudy abyss beyond it, and you reach out to touch it. 

_This… This is one of my worst ideas,_ you think, as your arm is engulfed in the clouds before running in. 

_______

QOTD: If there was one character you could bring into this world, who’d it be?

Also sorry for the short chapter


	25. 6.2

QOTD: What’s your favourite island from the Grand Line?

_______

It feels like your body is being morphed, thick clay-like clouds pushing you in. You feel like you’re suffocating, but as soon as you feel like you’ve run out of air, you can feel space on the other side, your fingertips reaching open air first. Your hands and arms soon after, you’re able to squeeze the rest of your body out. 

You shudder, the odd awkward pressing against your body lasting. You sigh before looking around. You’re still in some kind of alleyway, but the scene of a normal town is vastly changed to one of an overpopulated city. Buildings stacking up what must be hundreds of floors high, close together with thin gaps between them, if any at all. The windows offer bright glows of oversaturated light through them, the only light other than the moon that dims in comparison.

You take a few more steps out, letting the glow encapsulate your body. You swallow, deciding to turn back, finding only a narrow gap between buildings, just like the others, rather than the large alleyway you were previously in. You furrow your eyebrows and peek through the space, finding no signs of some blue and black swirling mess of clouds.

You huff, reaching for your phone. You turn it on and go to call someone immediately. You debate as you look through your contacts before settling on Law.

It rings a few times before some voice message comes through.

 _’The person you are trying to reach is either off service or their device has been shut off. Please try aga---’_ You shut the thing off and opt for messaging, in hopes of at least something more than that. 

You: Hello?  
You: If you get this, message me back as soon as you can.

 

You slide your phone back in your pocket and bite your lip, heading further into the city after confirming again that the odd portal you came through was definitely gone.

Much fewer people were on the thin roads than above you, travelling through windows to get from place to place or along the roofs. As you continued through the city, the road winded around until it reached an open, circular space after at least an hour of walking, maybe more. It was large enough that a thick fog that accumulated more and more as you went further into the city. Well, ‘into’, but you have no clue where you are. 

But the circular space was large enough that the fog made it so you couldn’t see the other side of what you presumed was a large circle. 

The ground, unlike the rest of the area, is made up of patterned, even bricks rather than the uneven stone. Unease filling you, you turn to go back, finding only buildings where you came from. 

You take a deep breath, but it feels empty as the air around you seems like it lacks oxygen. You circle around, keeping next to the buildings. Eventually, you do find a pathway you can walk through, and you turn into it. Expecting the fog to lighten, you only worry as it thickens, almost palpable. 

You come to a deadend with nothing but a large wall. It’s not smooth, but has little ridges and dents in it. You bring your fingertips to it, running them along the wall, hooking them around some of the deeper dents. 

You glance back, the pathway gone, and you pull yourself up enough to get a grip with your shoes. Scaling the thing, you wish you’d have tried a tiny bit harder in Mr. Tiger’s class. 

After nearly falling from an unstable grip, you try to call out Amyr. He doesn’t appear, and you feel uncannily… lonely. Like he’s not there to call out to. You let a small, throaty grunt as you continue. 

Your muscles strained and tired by the time you reach the top, you take a moment to lie down. You hear hundreds of pairs of footsteps scuttering around you, and you’re vaguely aware of the people rushing around. Finding the air somehow clearer, despite the seemingly impossible height, you catch your breath quickly and refuse your muscles too much rest, else they grow too relaxed. 

You stand and look around, able to see a little better. You glance over the edge of where you climbed up from, finding it filled and gone. Letting a sigh of frustration pass you lips, you turn in a small circle, trying to figure out where to go next. You check your phone first, to see if you got any messages back.

_1 message from Law_

Law: Text me back if you get this.

You: Yeah I got it  
You: What’s up?

Law: Where are you?

You: I don’t know

Law: You should’ve been back an hour ago, what happened?

You: An hour..?  
You: It’s definitely been longer than just an hour.

You glance to the top of your screen, where the time is typically situated, but it just shows four Xs. 

Law: …  
Law: Where did you go

You: I was just in the city, and there was this  
You: Blue and black glowing thing?

Law: And you went through it.

You: ...Well… yea…

Law: What are you, a bug attracted to lights?  
Law: Alright, what does it look like around you?  
Law: You should be in a huge, moving city  
Law: I presume you’re in a high floor or on a roof  
Law: Stay there  
Law: It’s not safe below  
Law: If you see a large, open space in a circle  
Law: Turn back immediately

You: Why?  
You: You know what’s happening, right?  
You: Where am I?

Law: If you’re not near that space, stay put. If they move you towards it,  
Law: Then turn around and try to get away from there.  
Law: I  
Law: Everything will be explained later  
Law: Don’t do anything stupid

You: Law  
You: explain something at least  
You: Where am I

He doesn’t respond after, and you slide your phone in your pocket. You swallow and look around for the open space, turning to the direction you were going anyway, which was away from the circle. You squint, finding the open space just a few tens of metres away from you. 

You turn and awkwardly head in the other direction, speeding up your pace as the quick footsteps only grow louder, like taps echoing within your head. 

You glance behind you for a split moment, your attention shifted for just long enough to let you trip, sending you into a flailing free fall off the building.


	26. 6.3

QOTD: Do you guys read the One Piece manga? So I know if I should keep to stuff only known to anime watchers. 

_______

You remember falling for a long while as your consciousness trickles in. Voices fade in and out as you try to wake up enough to open your eyes. You’re not sure how long that takes, but it feels like hours in the darkness of your slow return to consciousness. It almost feels like de ja vu, but not quite. Instead of the clean pristine room from before, the place was filthy. 

Grime and dust and a bunch of other things you couldn’t quite make out had found its way on the walls, floor, ceiling, and furniture. The dim, yellow stained light looked dirty, too. The door opened, surprisingly smoothly without the high pitched creak you figured would sound. 

“Law?” you murmured, trying to sit up. “Where am I?”

He huffed, heading to your bedside. “You’re hurt, don’t push yourself.”

“That,” you said, stumbling and partially falling, “is not an answer to my question.”

He rolls his eyes as he helps you sit up, propping a pillow between the wall and your back. 

“No, it isn’t. It’s also not the most important right now. How do you feel? Nauseous? Headaches? Lack of breath?” he lists, checking your temperature with the back of his hand. 

“Not really, I’m fine. I mean, I feel really sore.”

He raises an eyebrow and texts something. “Are you sure?”

You nod. “Yeah, honestly I feel even better than before.” 

The door swings open quickly, Kid, Sabo, Zoro, and Killer entering. 

You gasp. “Zoro, what happened?” Blood stains his white shirt and light green hoodie tied around his waist. 

He shrugs. “Not mine. Anyway, we’d better get you collected, grab Hawkeyes, and get out.”

You blink. “Why does the name sound familiar?”

“He’s a Shichibukai at our school. Barely is around, though. Usually bounty hunting in the Grand Line,” Sabo says. “He’s our ticket out, and he already agreed to help, since he’s going back soon anyway. How are you feeling, though?”

“‘Better than before,’” Law quotes.

You hum. “Not that much better, I think I phrased that wrong. Each of my limbs feel like a spaghetto attached to a soggy breadstick.”

The group shares a look of confusion, then maybe just a slight bit of worry. 

An awkward pause fills the air before Zoro speaks up. “ _Spaghetto_. I think this place is making her crazy already.”

“It’s a single spaghetti!” you insist.

“If only it was really getting to her, then that would’ve been a little less…” Law clears his throat before continuing, “Anyway, it’s a good thing she’s fine. We have to get out of here soon. It’s nearing the two day mark in real life,” though,” Law says. “The time’s changing again soon.”

Kid huffs. “I thought it wasn’t changing for another three days?”

“It is, but also tomorrow. Tomorrow’s a day a week, in three days is a week an hour.”

“What?” you mumble, confused.

Zoro groans. “What a pain. Tora,” he calls, and his tiger forms. 

You gasp. “Amyr! Amyr isn’t around, I don’t know where he is,” you exclaim, straightening quickly and rushing to get out. “We gotta find him first.”

Law shakes his head. “That’s not top priority. We can return in, that’d be three weeks to get him. We can’t stay here, we have to get out before tomorrow, and it’s late at night as is.” 

“No! Then I’ll stay here, there’s no way I’m leaving Amyr.”

“How do you even know he’s here?” he counters. 

Your argument falters. “I… Well, I don’t know. But I can feel it. He’s here, and he’s all alone right now!”

“You don’t even know where ‘here’ is. I don’t think you understand the importance of the matter. Get on Tora and let’s go, we’re not abandoning him. We’re gonna come back soon, three weeks for us is only three days for him anyway.”

Kid narrows his eyes at the boy as you slump slightly. “What’s that even supposed to mean,” you murmur. The red eyed tiger pads alongside the bed. Him being tall, he licks the side of your cheek and nuzzles his giant, furry head into your neck and face. 

You giggle softly and brush your hands through his soft fur. “What a good boy…” You glance at Law, who stares at you expectantly. You sigh lightly and flip the covers over and climb onto his back. “As long as we’re coming back.”

“We will. Then, we need to get going,” Sabo says.

____

Leaving Amyr filled you with nothing but enase and worry, but riding Tora and watching the ever-changing city blur by. Practically soaring over and across buildings was exhilarating, though, and it almost took away your worries. But watching the others run along so quickly and easily is a bit of a beating against your own natural abilities.

The group slows to a halt on one of the roofs, and Kid opens a hatch, which leads down to a narrow stairwell with steep steps. 

You all file in and quickly circle down a few floors before turning into one of them. After going through a few doors, a relatively nice looking room opens up. It’s lit by small chandeliers, and bookshelves are lined around the walls. 

“Hawkeyes,” Sabo says. 

You can’t see, since you’re near the back of the group, but a deep voice that you can only presume to belong to Hawkeyes himself replies.

“About time. I was close to leaving you bunch here.”

Kid clicks his tongue softly. “Asshole,” he mutters, and Killer nudges him with his elbow.

“Then, perhaps it wouldn’t have been the worst thing to abandon you all… At least some of you,” he says, and you can tell he’s glaring at Kid. 

You hear a light ‘tap’ of a glass being set down on a glossed wooden table and chair legs scraping gently against concrete. “Either way, you’re all here now. Let us go.”

He steps towards the wall and opens a dark purple curtain, revealing a concrete wall. Now at a place where you can see him, you take in his features. He has black hair spiked back into a large black hat adorned with some type of white fluff. He wears nothing but a high collared, magenta and black robe-like cape and loose lavender pants tucked into buckled boots. A giant sword is situated on his back, even taller than him and wider than his broad form. 

He brings his hands up to the concrete and pushes it in before pushing it into two separate slabs, revealing the blue and black mush from before. It looks like it’s almost escaping the concrete and flowing into the room. 

Hawkeyes nods and steps aside, letting the group go in first. You hold on tight to Tora as the familiar pushing against your skin gives you slight shivers. Now knowing what to expect, you notice how cold, yet hot it is. It’s got a sense of really heavy, humid, coldness to it. 

You let a soft sigh of relief as you’re finally let free from the thing, finding yourself in an oddly familiar space. The little area behind the bookshelf Drake showed you. You glance behind you, finding the sight stuffed behind a wide open door that you’d thought was either a closet or a restroom. 

Hawkeyes steps out and shuts the door behind him and sighs softly. He takes his hat off for just a moment to run his hand through his hair before placing it back on his head. 

“Er, thank you Hawkeyes,” you say. 

He hums. “Don’t mention it.”

“C’mon, (Y/N)-ya. Let’s get you to the dorms and resting.”

“Alright…” you say, getting off of Tora, but Zoro stops you. 

“He’ll return when he’s done,” the green haired boy says. 

You nod. “Alright… Then, I’ll see you all later.”

_______

Just saying but Mihawk and Lucci look like they’re cousins k thanks have a good day


	27. 6.4

You wake to a silent dorm, leaving you to think it’s empty. You sit up and rub your eyes, feeling like you’ve slept for a hundred years. Your body was stiff, and distinct cracking noises sounded as you climbed out of bed.  
“You’re awake,” a Spanish accented voice comments.  
You’re too sleepy to be surprised, and you turn to Hawkeyes. He sits in a chair that’s pulled out from the desk, leaning back with a book open in one hand. He snaps it closed and stands, straightening out his coat.  
“You were in and out for the past week. You only were somewhat conscious to eat and use the restroom. I presume you don’t remember?”  
“Apparently not, maybe being unconscious and forgetting things is kinda my shtick now. What happened this time?”  
“Nothing in particular, this is simply how the human body reacts after being in the Grand Line for the first time. Although, typically one would be out for another week and a half at best. That wasn’t your first time there,” he puts simply. “Not to say your lineage wouldn’t suggest it’d be possible,” he mutters afterwards.  
“I… I didn’t even know that was the Grand Line? I don’t recall ever being there. Then again…”  
“Your lost years. I’m quite aware (Y/N) (L/N).”  
Your head perks up. “How do you---”  
“That’s for another time. I do have answers for you, but now really isn’t an appropriate time.” He pats you on the head lightly before fixing your bedhead hair. It feels natural, and you let him adjust your messy locks.  
“Thanks,” you say, smiling softly. “Then… You’d tell me about stuff some other time?”  
“Yes. Though, I do believe your friends are waiting for you, so you should get ready for the day and see them. I’ll be going now.”  
“Wait, Hawkeyes,” you speak up as he reaches for the door knob. “Why were you here in the first place?”  
“You needed someone to watch over you to make sure your body didn’t go into dangerous conditions while you were asleep. The human body doesn’t react well going to and from the Grand Line like that.”  
“That’s the other thing, that was the Grand Line?”  
He hums. “Think of that place less of the Grand Line and more of… a hub that people use to get to and from the Grand Line. I’ll take my leave now. Goodbye.”  
____  
“That won’t quite work,” Sabo says. “Theoretically, yes. We could heat it up. But not without flames. Our Specials deal with flames, not heat.”  
Law hums. “Then that would be an issue… Unless we can figure out a quick way to heat up the rooms, then we’re gonna have to come up with a new plan. We’ve already confirmed messing with the AC isn’t going to work, but it can’t be flames right away.”  
Marco---who was pulled into the situation by his younger brothers---crosses an idea before shaking his head. “There are people that can heat things up without fire, but… There’s no way that’d be a good idea.”  
“Anyone can be bought off with money,” Nami says.  
Marco shakes his head again. “The only one that comes to mind is a Charlotte. Charlotte Oven. There’s no way we’d get him to do that.”  
Nami groans. “Rich people can’t be bought off with money,” she corrects.  
“Actually,” Law butts in. “I might have an idea. The Charlotte family is particularly keen on making deals that benefit them. Favour them heavily. Sweets, power, victory… There are things they’d definitely want. We can provide power in a ceratin way, can’t we?” he proposes. “If we can pretend to ally with them, we can gain their help.”  
“And in return, we serve them? No thanks,” Zoro denies.  
“We don’t have to. If we get them to help us then break our end of the deal, we just got free help,” Law says. Kid opens his mouth to speak, but he continues before he gets the chance. “I know, I know. But it doesn’t have to be anything long-term. It’s not like we’re serving them forever. We just need to figure out what they need, offer help in some way, and they help us.”  
“A small favour for a small favour, rather than anything too big or too committing” Marco says. “It’s not impossible, I’ll give you it. But Oven is a top fighter, why’d she send him to help?”  
Sabo gasps. “You know what would be really helpful to the family of someone looking to conquer the Grand Line?”  
“Paths to Raftel,” Ace says, getting on board with his brother.  
“And Pops happens to have several clues…” Marco says. “But there’s no way we’d give them those.”  
“Can’t you control temperature or something in your stupid room,” Kid snaps.  
“If I could, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” Law says. Silence washes over the group, stuck at a standstill.  
____  
You find Kid, Heat, Wire, and Killer in the workshop. You watch them weld something together. Six other identical, small metal cubes are already finished. Once they finish their cubes, you lift your hood and you can finally see again.  
“What’re you guys working on now?” you ask. “And why’re you guys welding with half of it in ice water?”  
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll find out eventually,” Killer says. “How are you feeling? I know you’re quite strong, but I never anticipated you’d recover this fast.”  
“Hawkeyes thought it might be because I might’ve been there before. I don’t quite know myself. By the way, are the World Gov. students still here?”  
“Just missed ‘em,” Heat says.  
“Aw… That sucks… I’m gonna go greet everyone else, I was sleeping for a long time. I hope this isn’t becoming a common thing,” you murmur. “I’ll see you guys later.”  
“See you. By the way, Trafalgar is in the library with Sabo, Ace, and Marco,” Killer says, flipping down his hood.  
You nod. “Alright, thanks! Bye!”  
You slip out and sigh, leaning against the door for a moment. Maybe it’s from having your lost years so close and not being able to have them, or maybe it’s from how weak you’ve been lately, or maybe it’s from Amyr’s presence so far away, practically nonexistent, but there’s something so off.  
Whatever the case, you decide to go around and find everyone, greeting them. Some more energetic---not to name names, but namely Luffy---than others when they found you were awake.  
And only after constant pressuring were you finally informed of what was going on.


	28. 7

QOTD: What character do you think is the most underrated from the series?

_______

You weren’t given all the information, just the idea of the information. Kind of like the bare bones. But more of you were given the materials to make bones and you had to build the bones and bone structure yourself, then everything else.

But at least they let you go.

Over the two weeks from when you woke up---the tournament had ended by the time you woke up, unfortunately---school had been more than stressful. You hadn’t fully recovered, so everything was exhausting. You couldn’t do much in Familiar Training, which was unfortunate, to say the least. And you weren’t allowed to help work on the plan, so it was two weeks of feeling useless. Law had assured you it was important to regain all your energy, but as mentally exhausting school was, your body was restless. 

Hell, Luffy, of all people, had told you you were pacing too much. 

“I just don’t get why I don’t get to know. Wouldn’t it be more dangerous going in without knowing what’s happening?” you said, growing more and more agitated as the two week mark approached. 

Sabo placed a hand on your shoulder, pausing your pacing. “I know it’s frustrating, but you’ve really got to trust us.” 

“You guys won’t even tell me why I can’t know,” you said. “I trust you guys, but it’s like you guys don’t trust me.”

“If it helps at all, we can give you some updates,” Law said, avoiding the direct question. “For the easiest way possible, we attempted to negotiate with the Charlotte family. It didn’t go as planned, and now we have to find a way around it. That’s about where we’re at right now.”

“That would be extraordinarily helpful if I knew what ‘we’ were planning in the first place,” you snapped. An irritated sigh passed through your lips. “I’m sorry. I just want to help, but i can’t if I don’t know anything.” 

Law’s eyes flashed something resembling an idea before dulling back into their usual tired, doubtful stormy yellow. He caught you staring intently at him. “No, it’s a bad idea.”

“What is?” Sabo asked. 

“If she really wanted to help… Her family does deal with the Charlotte family,” he muttered. 

Your face lit up. “They _do_!” you gasped. “We,” you corrected. “We do, I’m pretty sure I could grab a favour as long as I repay later.”

Your starry eyes pleaded with Law, who just shook his head. 

“Sure,” Sabo said. 

You and Law held nearly the same shocked expression, but yours hinted glee and success and his held more confusion and dread. 

“I don’t think it’s worth screwing the plan over. If you think you can do it, then why not?”

You nodded. “I know I can.”

“Then, here’s what you need to know…”

___

Drake hated going back and forth between the two schools, since he had to use his own time he’d usually use for studying or doing homework, but it was worth it. He’d found a slightly less than legal gas one of the scientists at his school was working on. It was extremely explosively reactive with fire or combustion or something like that. He wasn’t a scientist, the specifics were beyond his reach. He just knew it’d work for their purposes. 

He brought a bunch of the stuff in a sealed container is its liquid form---which was really hot, and he couldn’t hold it with his bare hands---and worked on the idea with Kid (reluctantly), Killer, Heat, Wire, and Law. 

After failing negotiations with Big Mom, they needed a heat source or they’d have to scratch the idea, and they didn’t have time to think of anything else (though assuredly, everyone was definitely thinking of Plan B’s in the back of their minds in case push came to shove. Except maybe Luffy). 

They needed something to heat up the germanium welds that would let out the gas---it would be gas once it came to room temperature---but not ignite it yet. It’d cause confusion and panic in the base, they’d get what they needed, and then get away and ignite it. That’s what the fire would be for. After they were farther from the building at a safe distance.

They could’ve done a few other things; they’d gone over several other slightly altered plans to get around the circumstances. But they didn’t pan out, and it didn’t really matter that they didn’t. He’d delivered another few ounces of the stuff when he’d heard that they’d gotten the Charlotte family to cooperate. 

“We worked out negotiations after all,” Heat said.

“How? I thought they wanted nothing to do with us and didn’t trust a word we said.”

“It was (Y/N) who worked it out, somehow. Something with her family and having connections.”

“I thought we were keeping her out of the plans,” the ginger responded, eyes narrowing. “This would’ve been nice to know earlier. Especially considering how much I argued she should be let in on everything.” 

“You were arriving today anyway, we figured we’d tell you now,” Wire said, ignoring his irritation. “And if it helps at all, no one else was informed until after it was done.”

It didn’t, but he shrugged. “Thanks. I need to go check in with 0.  
Law,” he said. That was the half of it, and it wasn’t a lie, per se. The other half involved asking you directly about how the negotiations happened. He nodded his head as a farewell and wandered to the library, where the group kept their plans. 

He kicked himself a little after he’d found out you had found your way into the Grand Line before realising it wasn’t through the room he’d shown you that you’d crossed through. He slid in the same room, met awkwardly with you exiting. 

“Sorry,” the two said at the same time. 

“Drake, I haven’t seen you in a while,” you greeted, grinning. “Good to see you, what’s up?”

He reciprocated with a small smile. “You too. Nothing much, just dropping off some stuff for everything. So, you finally got let in on everything?”

You sighed. “Not on everything, just what I needed to know to negotiate or whatever. But still considerably more than I knew before.” 

“Ah. And they went well, I suppose? The negotiations, I mean.”

You nodded. “Fairly. I owe a favour, but it’s not too major.”

“How’d you manage to convince them to help?” 

You shifted uneasily. “It was mainly just me convincing them. My family’s done a lot of trades and stuff with them. So… Yeah, it was pretty boring. I’d better get going, I’ll see you later?”

“Maybe, I’m staying around for the rest of the day and heading back at night.”

“Alright, then I’ll definitely see you later, although driving at night…? WGMA is far away…”

“I’ll keep it in mind. See you,” he said, slipping into the room as you did out. You tossed him a farewell before heading out.


End file.
